Heart and Soul of a Dragon
by TheOnlyNobody
Summary: Hiccup and Valka are taken from their home, ripped away from all that they know. But when an infant Hiccup has only one chance for survival what life will Valka choose for her son? What will Hiccups life be like living as a dragon? This story focuses largely on hiccup growing up in the nest, brotherhood, friendships. First attempt at a fanfic.
1. Instinct

It was a nearly cloudless night, the moon shone bright and the stars sparkled like a million tiny sapphires, crisp cool wind brushed past and a million scents were carried along with it. From her vantage point Cloudjumper could feel it all, she warbled softly back at the nighttime sounds, the rustle of the leaves as she flew overhead, the snap of twigs as some poor grounded animal scurried along, and the running creek. She could smell the damp earth and the pine woods, see the light as it glanced of the raindrops collected in the trees, and feel the world all around her. These were the nights that she loved, the soft wind, endless skies. It was truly peaceful. She had already traveled for the majority of the day and it was getting near time to find an island to settle on for the night, however Cloudjumper was intent on passing this island by and flying a bit more before landing for the night.

Around an hour after leaving the little island behind Cloudjumper's peace was shattered. Her peaceful night cut through with the sounds of two walker shouts and dragon roars. Sighing as the island in question came into view Cloudjumper began to veer to the right, she knew from experience that it wasn't worth trying to get through to the red queens Sparks, she had too tight a hold and interference only served to get the poor dragons injured or killed. It was just as Cloudjumper was about to fully turn her back on the little spit of rock that she heard the scream.

It was another midnight dragon raid and Valka was caught once again in the position of trying to keep both sides safe,Valka hated the raids, hated that they had to fight on a monthly basis and hated the seemingly inevitable bloodshed. She feared the dragons just as her people did but she did not think them to be mindless beasts or that slaughtering them was the answer. It was a rather unpopular opinion. The fact that nothing ever changed didn't stop Valka from trying, she would purposely step in front of axe swings, yell and shoo smaller dragons away, and once even barreled into a tribe mate before she could throw a net over a group of decidedly frightened looking Nadders.

Tonight was no different, with her child clutched under one arm and a small single bladed battle axe in the other Valka made her way across the battlefield that was her home. As she made her way down the slope from the mead hall she had to doge and weave between battling figures. At one point she weaved around a Gronkle that had its nose in a fish basket, which earned her a nasty look from a nearby Viking. However before he could say anything a Hobblegrunt landed nearly on top of him and his attention was understandably diverted. As Valka continued to skirt her way down the slight slope she cast around for any sign of Stoic. Maybe if she could show him in the battle how all the dragons wanted was food and nothing else she could convince him to make some kind of trade. She had mentioned before the possibility of simply leaving some food out for when the dragons came but no, every single one of these mutton headed vikings seemed perfectly happy to continue fighting tooth and limb in a war with no foreseeable end. Finally spotting Stoic Valka came to a halt, he was, of course, right in the middle of the biggest group of dragons. As Valka once again picked up the pace she could only watch as her husband simultaneously pummeled a Thunderdrum and a particularly large Gronkle. Rushing now she got there right as the two dragons gave a whimpering sound and flapped away. Stoic turned towards her with fire in his eyes, Valka knew that look, it was the same as everyone else's in the heat of battle. Valka's stomach turned as she realized for the millionth time how much of a thrill each and every one of her tribemates got out of this. She reached for her husbands arm but right as she was about to make contact her world exploded.

Fire surged skyward as Stoic lunged forward, making up the distance between himself and his family in the blink of an eye. He drew them close as he covered his wife and son with both his massive body and his fireproof cloak. After the fire dissipated Stoic wasted no time, he stood back up and charged the roaring Nightmare. He didn't falter for even a second as he yelled back to his wife, "Go!" he shouted just before bringing all his focus front and center. He was now squaring off one on one with one of the most feared dragons in viking history. Stoic just hefted his war hammer and grunted in challenge at the beast. As they circled he caught a glimpse of his wife running over the opposite hill towards their house and safety, he smiled. Good, this would take his full attention, then he charged.

The scream drew Cloudjumper's attention and despite her better judgement she changed course and headed for the island and the raging battle. It didn't take Cloudjumper long to spot the source of the distressed call, it was a two leg woman, and Cloudjumper spotted a small bundle in the woman's arms. Food maybe? No! It was her hatchling! What on earth was the two leg doing with a hatchling in the middle of a raid? Cloudjumper watched as the human woman ran down the side of a small hill and into the open area below. She also recognized the source of the woman's distress, they had been spotted by an angry looking Gronkle. While Cloudjumper had no love for two legs and knew it wasn't the Gronkle's fault she couldn't just watch as a mother and her hatchling were needlessly killed. After a short internal debate and with a resigned trill Cloudjumper dove down towards the battle to intercept the confused Gronkle.

Valka looked up as a huge Gronkle came crashing towards them, it was a giant from her perspective, taking up the whole of her vision and filling her head with thoughts of being crushed under a giant scaly body. Valka's stunned musing is what did her in, she lost half a step and, stumbling, fell to the ground. Clutching her little Hiccup tightly in her arms she looked up into the face of the snarling creature. But before it could take another step towards them another shape landed, cutting her off from the Gronkle. If Valka had thought the Gronkle was big then this creature was massive! Its head was as big as she was and its wingspan blocked off Valka's entire frontal view. Although Valka had never laid eyes on one herself she recognized this new dragon as a Stormcutter, "extremely dangerous kill on sight" she murmured to herself. Valka watched in stunned wonderment as the Stormcutter reared up and roared at the Gronkle. Valka continued to gape as the startled Gronkle roared back and after a short back and forth it finally huffed and flew away. Wait, huffed? Thought Valka. In fact that whole "conversation" seemed to prove that dragons were indeed intelligent and social creatures. She had always suspected as much, seen the pain in a cornered dragons eyes or noticed how one dragon would come to another's aid. But this, here, this was undeniable proof that they are not the mindless beasts they are always made out to be. In fact THIS dragon had just saved her, hadn't it? This dragon had just faced one of its own kind to save a viking. If that wasn't some kind of sign then Valka didn't know what was.

Valka was pulled out of her musings when the Storm cutter turned its attention on her, instead of looking threatening though it appeared curious and almost concerned. "Th-thank you" stuttered Valka. The dragon just tilted its head before making a soft warbling sound and gesturing towards the sky. Valka had no idea what it was trying to say and so just repeated herself, "thank you for saving us dragon." It only warbled again and bent down to nuzzle the bundle in her arms, Valka stiffened in a moment of fear but then relaxed as the dragon simply blew a gust of air over Hiccups face, she watched as her child giggled and reached out with his little arms to grasp at the dragon's snout. Valka couldn't help but smile, these creatures truly weren't what everyone saw them as. Suddenly the Stormcutter stiffened, Valka had a split second to wonder what was wrong before she felt something burning hot against her skin.

Valka screamed out in both pain and surprise as the Stormcutter launched into the air taking a now terrified Valka and Hiccup with it. Valka clutched the bundle in her arms tight and looked back to the spot they had been standing only moments before. She saw only a dark fiery scorch mark. Had it been the Stormcutter? No, that made no sense, plus she hadn't taken her eyes off the dragon the whole time. That meant that it had been a different dragon and this Stormcutter had saved them yet again. Valka's immediate sense of relief at her realization quickly turned to worry as she realized that despite being alive they were still climbing higher and higher into the air. As their altitude increased so did Valka's dread. She began to scream for help.

Stoic humphed in triumph as he watched his opponent draw away from him and flap off in defeat. It had taken Stoic The Vast less than three minutes to defeat a dragon that many vikings wouldn't even dare to challenge. As Stoic took a few seconds to recollect himself and look over the island he suddenly heard her screams. "Stoooo-ic! Stoic help!" Stoic looked up frantically towards the sound of his wife's cries and what he saw was worse than any dragon fight. His worst fears were being realized, for there, not thirty meters away was his wife and son being carried off. They were being held by one of the great beasts, a Stormcutter by the looks of it. They were already a good twenty meters away and disappearing fast. "Valka!" Stoic shouted up to her, he could see the fear in her eyes and didn't hesitate as he hefted his hammer and hurled it towards the fleeing dragon. He was a good shot and he had a strong arm yet his hammer did no more then bounce off the giant beasts armored underbelly. "Noo!" he shouted, "Valka!" "Stop that dragon!" His fellow warriors rallied at their chief's call and sent rocks and bolas hurtling towards the retreating form. Stoic's voice was hoarse and his arms exhausted from loading and reloading catapults but as his family got smaller and smaller and his wife's screams quieter and quieter he found himself to be the only one still working. He felt a calloused hand fall onto his right shoulder and half turned to see Gobber with tears in his eyes and a slouch in his shoulders. "I-i's too late" Gobber stuttered "They're gone." Stoic stood numb as the dragon flew further and further out of range, carrying his wife and newborn son with it. He dropped to his knees as he listened to the softening cries of his wife and shrill screaming of his distraught son. Gazing unseeing at the horizon Stoic came to a single conclusion, then and there, on that miserable spit of grass overlooking the sea that his life had just disappeared behind, he vowed to to track down and kill the beast that had taken his family.

 **Thank you all for reading! I love writing this story and am very happy with how the first chapter of my reboot turned out. I can't figure out how to get the line breaks to show up? I love the likes and follows and reviews are always welcome! I respond to any and all questions (story related) and am open to constructive criticism, admiration or flat out criticism. Tell me you love it, tell me you hate it. Thanks to you all and ill see you with the next chapter!**


	2. Blessing of the King

The wind rushed by at an amazing speed, the air was cool and fresh as they cut through the dark sky, Valka however was far too upset to take in any of this. Clutching Hiccup to her chest Valka gradually slowed and then stopped her cries for help. For as they left Berk further and further behind Valka realized that it was now pointless. No one would likely hear her from all the way up here, even if a ship happened to be passing by. Not that they would be able to help her anyway she realized, remembering the giant dragon above her. She looked up at the dragon that had both saved and ruined her life. Why had it saved them only to then carry them off? Maybe it had only taken them to protect them from that blast of fire? But then where were they going now? Why take them at all?

"Oh!" Valka gasped, snapping suddenly out of her thoughts. The blast of fire. Valka hurriedly turned to the still crying Hiccup in her arms to see a horrible sight. Her son was badly burned. That final blast that had burnt Valka's arm had also gotten Hiccup. Her son had angry red marks across the right side of his face and the skin on his right arm and side was also bright pink. Valka began to weep and rock her son back and forth trying to calm him.

What would she do? Her son would never survive something like this. Especially not without the medicine in the village. As Valka began to cry the Stormcutter looked down at them in concern. "This is all your fault!" Valka yelled at the dragon. "my son is burned and will probably di-die now!" Valka half screamed, half cried up at the dragon. The Stormcutter warbled and then dropped down to hover over the oceans surface. Valka looked at the dragon and then to the water. Was it going to drop them? No, it just hovered there and made a concerned noise and gestured towards Hiccup and then at the water. It was trying to help. Valka slowly lowered her hands, still clutched around hiccup, into the sea and used the water to cover her sons burns. While the salt probably burned even worse it was better than nothing and she silently thanked the dragon as she bent her head over her son and they rose back up into the starry sky.

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Cloudjumper had never meant to take the humans with her, it really was an accident. But they had been in danger! She couldn't just leave them in that exposed field with the queens dragons on a rampage. A battle was no place for a mother and her hatchling! Stupid Two Walkers. She was worried about how the mother would react to being taken from her home but after her initial shouts she seemed more worried about her hatchling. Cloudjumper too was concerned about the young one's burns, Two Walkers are so fragile. There was only one hope for the hatchling now and Cloudjumper knew it. She had to get him back to the king. They weren't far from the nest now and even though she knew the Two Walker wouldn't understand her Cloudjumper continued to reassure the mother by telling her that everything would be alright and that she and her son would not be harmed.

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"Please," Valka pleaded. "Please just bring us back to our home, my son, he needs help." "His burns will never heal without any medicine." "He will be marked, outcast." But the dragon just warbled a reply and stayed true to their course. Where were they going anyway? Hiccup had finally fallen asleep so Valka resigned herself to the silence and merely clutched her son close to her body and prayed to the gods.

After what Valka estimated to be about six hours she finally got her first sight of land, and it was incredible, from what she could see it was a good sized island, about twice the size of Berk, with a rocky beach on one side and mountains on the other. The island was almost entirely covered in trees and they extended almost all the way to the waters edge. The cliffs were swarming with color and Valka soon realized they were covered in all different types of dragons. The lush forest and colorful dragons were a beautiful sight, but they paled in comparison to the main feature of the island.

Valka gasped out loud at the sight in front of her, touching the water on the closest side of the island, close to the mountains and covering about a third of the island was a great ice fortress. It rose up high over the tallest trees and and spread far across the island. As they got closer Valka was surprised by the lack of temperature change, it remained pleasantly cool despite their increasing proximity to the great ice structure. As they approached it became clear that they were headed right for one of the holes in the ice.

As they entered the great wall of the vast structure Valka couldn't help but be impressed at the ease with which the Stormcutter navigated the labyrinth within. Beneath the exterior of of the ice was a complex and twisted system of crisscrossing tunnels and beams of ice. The dragon took turn after turn sometimes avoiding ice beams that crisscrossed the space, sometimes entering tunnels that barely allowed for them to pass. Though it felt like a much longer time it was probably only about thirty seconds before they came to the end of the last tunnel and emerged into what could only be the hollow inside of the fortress.

Valka gaped, never in her life had she seen such and amazing sight, when they emerged she was greeted by thousands upon thousands of dragons, far more than had been outside on the cliffs. And, at the center of the area, sitting in what appeared to be a small lake, was the largest dragon Valka had ever seen. It was massive. Tall as a mountain and wide as a small island. Though her first thought was fear it didn't last long, the great beast had a subtle but powerful calming effect, in fact Valka felt more at ease than she had in a long time. Hiccup must have felt his great presence as well because he began to stir and then cry as the pain of his burns returned. Valka tried to soothe him as she stared in amazement at the dragons swirling through the air, watched as they lounged on the inside mountainous areas, and landed in the many caves dotting the interior of the vast space. The next thing Valka knew she was being gently set down in one such cave. The cave was about 15 meters from the ground and fairly spacious. It was about two and a half meters from floor to ceiling, five meters long, and six deep. There was a small stream towards the left side that ran from a crack in the wall, along a groove in the floor and over the edge of the cave floor, she could also see several tunnels going off into the rock behind her. However her attention was immediately directed back toward the great dragon as it moved slightly and lifted its head towards them.

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"King" Cloudjumper hurriedly addressed the Bewilderbeast. "Cloudjumper" he acknowledged, "why have you brought these humans here?" "My King" Cloudjumper began, "I was passing one of the Two Walker islands during one of the Red Queens raids when I saw these two in immediate danger from a confused Boulderwing!" "I do not know what made me do it but I felt the need to protect them, especially the hatchling. Then after I had saved them the mother did something I have never seen from their kind before. She did not recoil or try to attack me but instead allowed me to see her child and even thanked me!" "So, when a Flamescale attempted to kill them I had no choice but to get out of there and bring them with me." She finished with deep breath in. "I can sense something different in these two," said the king, "especially the child." "They are permitted to stay so long as they wish to." he said, bowing his head in their direction. "Thank you my King" said Cloudjumper "but the hatchling was severely burned in the Flamescale's attack, I fear for his life, you can save him can't you?" After a moment the Bewilderbeast consented, "this has never been done before, the child will be changed, but yes I can save him."

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Valka watched the two dragon's unintelligible conversation with rapt interest. This great beast was truly a sight to behold. After a few minutes the two dragons turned their heads in her direction and the Stormcutter came to land next to her in the cave. It slowly approached and nodded its head towards Hiccup and then at the king. Valka only clutched her child closer and backed up a few steps. The Stormcutter followed and made an insistent noise as it again gestured at Hiccup and then to the edge of the cave entrance. Did it want her to offer her son to this great dragon? She was about to turn and run into one of the back caves when the great king dragon moved its head to be even with the cave and rumbled a low sound deep in its throat. It was a deep hum that resonated throughout the cave and made Valka feel like she was wraped in it. Though she knew it came from the dragon it was impossible to pick out a source as the sound came from every direction. It vibrated in Valka's head and brought with it a feeling of peace and reassurance.

It was in that moment that Valka understood, at least partially. She slowly stepped forward, unwrapped a now silent Hiccup and laid him before the great beast. She then backed up a few paces and looked up at the king, "please save my son." The king made a low noise and nodded his great head. He bent closer to the small figure and Valka watched her child's eyes widen in wonder and excitement. The great dragon then blew a light frost that spread out and settled over Hiccup's small form, her child laughed as it settled over his body and covered his hair. Then the dragon raised one large clawed foot and ever so carefully made a small cut just below and to the right of Hiccup's left shoulder. The Great King then proceeded to do the same to his own foot, and then incredibly gently spread his white blood over Hiccup's cut. Hiccup gave one last sigh and then closed his eyes and fell asleep. The King blew one last gust over the young boy, gave a nod in a stunned Valka's direction, and then lowered himself back down to his previous position.

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Hiccup slept for a solid 72 hours, over which time Valka never left his side. The Stormcutter brought her fish and she drank from the small stream. She had never been so worried as those first several hours after her son's ordeal with the king. However, after about 18 hours of her fretful praying and incessant worrying she finally noticed a change, subtle, but Hiccup's breathing was definitely becoming more even and less labored. His brow uncreased and his slightly pained look gave way to a peaceful one. After another 7 or so hours Valka noticed that the burn marks that had covered much of his right side were starting to vanish as if he had been healing for months instead of hours. By the time two days had passed the burn marks were all but gone and Hiccup appeared to be sleeping as he did on every other night, in fact if anything he actually looked better than he usually did. His skin was a shade or two darker, and his small form appeared a tad less frail. By the end of the third day, Just when Valka was starting to wonder how much longer he would sleep, she finally heard him stir. She bent over him and with the Stormcutter looking over her shoulder watched as her son finally opened his eyes. Dragon eyes.

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 **Thank you all so much for the views and reviews. I am finally caught up to where I was before and I am much happier with the chapters as they are now. If you read the chapters as they were before than please tell me what you think of the changes (I changed the first chapter a lot more than this one). From now on there will be no more going back and I will be pushing on with the story.**

 **If you are a new reader then welcome and don't worry about the changes I'm talking about XD. I love the story and hope that you all enjoy reading as much as I do writing it. Reviews are awesome! let me know how much you like it, tell me you hate it, give your input on whats going on. I love it all and I will respond to questions in future author notes.**

 **Thanks again, bye till next time!**


	3. Nest Life

**So, I guess I'm sorry doesn't really cut it. The last half a year of my life has been crazy, I haven't been home in over six months and I've been exploring myself and the world outside of the bubble I was previously in. That said I still love this story and all of you reading it, I can't promise a timeframe or updates but they will still be coming. I love seeing when a new person likes, favorites, or follows this story and I hope I have not lost any of you due to my long absence. I want to thank all of you who have reviewed and encourage you to keep doing so, love the new chapter? Hate it? want to give me input? Please tell me all! Special thanks to sagemanexp for the line break help XD. Now, without further adieu, the next chapter!**

2 YEARS LATER

Hiccup was curious, he was standing nearby his mother as she picked the yummy foods from the trees, and as he used the bush next to him to keep his balance he also gazed around at all the life in the nest. He was fascinated by how the grass felt under his feet instead of his knees, how his family all swirled overhead, how the branch he was holding had scratchy green stuff on it. As Hiccup looked around he noticed a patch of soil about a meter away that seemed to shimmer. Frowning he waddled along the bush and bent down to inspect. As he got close he realized that it was a small dragon.

"Hello!" he chirped, the little Changewing half shrieked as she came back into focus. "How you see me?" Wondered the little dragon.

"Saw the air looked funny" Giggled Hiccup.

"Shhh!" she hushed, "I'm hiding from my mommy, I don wanna have a bath."

"Yep," agreed Hiccup. "I won tell," he smiled happily pointing to himself.

"Thanks," she said smiling. "Whats your name?" "Iccpuh" he answered. "I Shimmer!" She beamed. "o _ops"_ she whispered, but too late.

Both younglings looked up as a shadow swooped in from above. The adult Blender landed next to the two with a huff.

"There you are!" She exclaimed at Shimmer. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" "Its time to go." "Awe, bu mama I made a friend!" Said shimmer, nuzzling a now sitting Hiccup.

Hiccup looked up as His mom came walking over. "Oh, have you found a friend Hiccup?" She asked. "Uh Hu" he said.

"Can Simmer stay?" He questioned his new friend's mother. "Pleeeasseee" they both begged. "Not today" she answered. "But perhaps another time," and with that she nodded at his mom, scooped up his new friend a took off. "Byeee!" Called shimmer.

"Can I play Simmer tomorrow mama?"

A YEAR LATER

Hiccup was now almost four years old and Valka was making lunch as she watched him crawl around the cave floor. At the moment he was busy playing with a small wooden wheel, normally he would be off playing with the young dragons, but for now he was waiting for food. She smiled remembering how nervous she had been at first when she found Hiccup with the other dragons. However despite her initial fears Valka had soon decided that there wasn't much she could do to stop it. It was part of her son growing up in the nest. The nest was amazing, a safe haven and a paradise.

Hiccups first three years were easy and care free, the dragons took to him in a way Valka still did not understand. When he was two Valka had turned around to carry him back up to their cave, only to find that he had already gotten a ride from a colorful Changewing. She rushed up to him but she needn't have, he was simply sitting there laughing and waving goodbye to his new friend. However she had been worried and kept a closer eye on her son.

Valka still believed that it had been the right choice, not returning to berk. Hiccup, with his dragon eyes, would have been scorned and most likely exiled from the tribe. Disowned and hated by his own people, his own father, that was no way to live.

Yes, staying was the right choice, and yet not a day went by that she didn't miss Stoic. Valka had not taken long to assimilate to the new way of life, she loved the dragons and had all that she could possibly need on the island. Although it was a pain she had gradually begun to learn the dragons tongue and had become close with the Stormcutter who's name she learned was Cloudjumper.

After Hiccups recovery Valka had ventured into some of the back caves to find that there were two directly off of the main one with another two branching off of the smaller of the two. After a few weeks of gathering leaves and and branches, and with the help of some of the dragons Valka had turned the first cave into a sort of living space and the second into a bedroom for herself and hiccup, figuring Hiccup could do as he liked with the back two caverns as he got older. While the main entrance cave served as both the entrance to their "home" and as a kitchen and eating space.

After about two months in the nest Cloudjumper came in and gestured for Valka to follow, leaving Hiccup asleep in the bedroom Valka followed her friend through the icy maze and to the outside and towards the waters edge where she found a crashed viking ship. It was old and had probably washed from miles and miles away, climbing aboard Valka had found some much appreciated supplies; some cloth and sewing needles to make clothes, some warm blankets, flint and steel (not that they really needed it with all the dragons), as well as several pots, pans, and knives. Bringing it all back served to make life in the nest truly comfortable. Valka was brought back to the present as she felt her son grab hold of her leg and tug as he asked for food in dragons tongue.

Valka answered her son in Norse, while she was happy for her son to speak the dragons language she did feel that it was important that he not lose his home language, plus Valka still couldn't speak the dragons language all to well. Hiccup had picked up on the language much faster than Valka and already seemed fluent in the language of warbles, clicks, and subtle movements.

Hiccup huffed and then asked again, in Norse this time. Valka answered by setting him back on the floor and handing him the fish that she had just finished cooking. Cooking the fish was another of Valka's ways of clinging to their old way of life, Hiccup seemed to like them just as well raw. She had the steaming fish wrapped in a leaf when she set it down for him but he simply tore it away and grabbed greedily at the still probably scalding creature.

Valka had learned of her sons heat tolerance when he was just two years old. Hiccup had made his way over to their hearth and Valka had watched in horror from just barely too far away as he had reached into the flames and grabbed at a glowing chunk of coal. Lunging to is side she had swatted it out of his hands and rushed him to the stream to dunk his hands, however when the soot was washed away she had found his hands as good as new.

That had been the second to show of his dragon like traits, and not long after she had discovered another; as Hiccups teeth grew in they were not what she had expected. instead of normal toddler teeth his grew in as sharpened and distinctly dragon like. He had flat-ish teeth in the front but as the back ones grew in they became more and more sharpened.

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About two weeks after his teeth had come in Valka took him down to where the Dragon fruits grew. The Dragon fruits were large and red with purple veins of color. They grew from vines that had taken over a group of small Oak trees. Lifting Hiccup up onto her shoulders she told him to grab the fleshy fruit. With a grunt of effort he pulled one free and tumbled down into Valka's arms with his prize. Back on the ground he took his first bite, squealing in delight as the colorful juice poured down his face.

He immediately ran up to a towering Timberjack and offered the dragon a bite of his fruit. Smiling at her son's kindness Valka watched as the orange and grey streaked Timberjack bent his head to accept the fruit. He then said something to Hiccup who nodded vigorously and then clambered onto the dragons head.

"Woah Hiccup!" "please come down, thats not safe" she shouted to her son. "Na mama, more fruit!" exclaimed an excited Hiccup. And there was nothing Valka could do as she watched nervously from the ground.

"Be careful with him" she told the Timberjack. He made a rumbling noise as he pushed his head and Hiccup up to the ripest area of the fruits.

As Hiccup reached the fruits he laughed happily and cherupt at the residing terrible terrors. Then, as Hiccup reached for a lush dragon fruit, Valka watched as he was met with resistance. A young terrible terror had reached for the same fruit at the same time. As her son struggled against the small dragon he suddenly lost his hold and was sent tumbling backwards! Valka screamed out as she threw her basket to the side and lunged for the spot he was falling towards. She would be too late.

As Valka came crashing to the ground she realized that she was the only one to do so. She looked up frantically for her son, and there he was. Hovering in the air, supported by several older terrors. They floated him down to the ground and then settled around him.

A little terror, that she recognized by the blue streak along its spine as the one who fought with her son for the fruit, crawled down the tree and approached Hiccup offering him the fruit. Hiccup laughed happily and took a bite, then offered it back to the little dragon.

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That had been the time that Valka truly realized that her son had nothing to fear in the nest, in fact he was more protected and loved here than it was possible to be anywhere else in the world. Valka smiled in memory as she watched her son in his small loincloth sitting there and picking apart his fish.

That silly little loincloth was all she could get him to wear. Valka had tried to put a shirt on him as well as a pair of booties she had made, but it was all to no avail. He would just fidget in the shirt and flat out refused the shoes. She sighed, suppose its best for his feet to just toughen up anyway. She watched as her son blew on his steaming fish, (he was not quite as fire proof on the inside as the outside) she couldn't help but smile and laugh as his face contorted into one of concentration.

After he had finished his fish Valka shooed him off to go find his friends, knowing no harm would come to him while in the nest. Hiccup ran over to the stream to wash his hands, ran to the edge of the cave and grabbed the wing claw of a Changewing that happened to be close by. While Valka, with Cloudjumper's help, had made a small path in the rock to get down to the nest floor Hiccup always preferred to be let down by a passing dragon. Valka smiled as she turned back to her work on the new shorts for Hiccup.

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Hiccup turned and thanked the Blender before tromping off towards the edge of the small forest. He had been exploring these trees for a few months now, ever since his mom had let him wonder by himself, and he loved all the new things he had found, today however he was going in hopes of finding Shimmer and his other friends. He liked his friends and had grown extremely close with several different dragons his own age. He liked playing with them, even though he usually lost at hide and seek and was almost always pinned in wrestling. The only one he could ever beat was Squeak the Tiny Terror and even then the small dragon usually got the better of him. Pushing that thought away Hiccup hurried forward as he saw his friends gathered at the edge of the treeline. There was his best friend Shimmer the Blender, Squeak, Bree and Bash the Two Head, Boulderdash the Boulderback, and Firefang the Flamescale.

As he approached they all greeted him, "where have you been?" asked Bree, "yeah we almost started without you" finished Bash. "I was eating" explained Hiccup, "I'm here now though, what are we playing?" asked Hiccup. "Hide and seek" answered Shimmer, "Bree and Bash are it first." "Everyone gets one minute to hide" said Shimmer. "Alright, ready, set, GO!" We all scattered as Bree and Bash began to count. It wasn't long before their counting turned into arguing. Good, thought Hiccup at least with them I have a chance. As Hiccup moved further and further into the dense trees the sounds of his squabbling friends grew fainter and fainter and was replaced by another softer, sadder sound. He thought it sounded like a dragon crying for help. Curious, Hiccup followed the sound until he came upon the culprit, a small dragon about his own age, it was jet black and looked to be all alone. As Hiccup approached he could also see that it seemed to have a hurt leg. Calling to his friends he moved over to it and tried to get its attention.

By the time his friends reached them they found Hiccup and the new dragon staring intently into each others eyes. "Ahem" said Firefang, "hope we aren't interrupting." "Oh what, no no" said Hiccup turning towards his friends "I just found him here, I think he is hurt, will you go get my mom?" "I will!" said Squeak and he scampered off.

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As Valka approached the first thing that she noted was that her son was not in any danger, Squeak had said as much but she still worried, instead she found him trying to help a small jet black dragon. The poor hatchling couldn't have been more than a few months old. "Who is this Hiccup?" Valka asked. "He is hurt mommy" replied a worried looking hiccup, "can we help him?" "We can take him to the king" offered Valka, "come along Hiccup." With that she bent over, scooped up the small black shape and headed out of the woods with Hiccup in tow.

"King" began Valka, "Hiccup has found a young injured dragon in the woods, I do not know what it is." She laid the young dragon before the king who looked down and then gave a start upon realizing what it was. "My dear, that dragon is a Night Furry," you found him in the woods?" the king asked, now turning his attention to hiccup. "All alone?" "Yes" Hiccup twittered, "and his name is Toothless!" said Hiccup. "Well" said the king, "it would not surprise me if this young one was abandoned, Valka do you have room for one more in your home? It seems your boy and the young Night Fury have taking quite a liking to each other." Valka having missed some of what the King said turned to her son who looked up at her with pleading eyes and asked in Norse "can he stay mom? Pleeeease." "Oh," said Valka, understanding now, she looked down at her pleading son and then to the small black shape at her feet. The little dragon was staring up at her with huge green eyes and seemed to be pleading in the same way as her own son. Looking at those two faces and two pairs of imploring green eyes she caved, "I suppose" she relented, then smiled as her son made a happy cherup like noise.

Toothless and Hiccup became inseparable, they were best friends, and constant companions. Toothless' wounds healed quickly enough and he had soon joined Hiccup and the others in their games. Toothless quickly proved that he was by far the quickest of the group and also quite good at hide and seek, bested only by Shimmer. They were all good friends, however it was easy to see as the months passed that Hiccup and Toothless shared something special. Toothless and hiccup became more than just friends, they were brothers.

The year passed quickly and as the young ones grew their playing became more and more rough. Valka worried sometimes when her son would come back and have a new scratch, or bump (never a burn). But her son healed quickly and seemed to be perfectly happy, that paired with Valka's complete trust in her nest mates to keep the young ones safe allowed her to simply be happy for her son.

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Hiccup sunk low to the ground and let out a low but menacing growl. He slowly began circling his opponent as he watched and waited for an opening, he didn't wait long. Squeak was impatient and in a burst of speed lunged towards his friend. Hiccup was ready, he spun from his crouch and twisted around his friend, grabbing his tail as he did so. Now behind Squeak and with a firm hold on the little terrors tail, Hiccup pulled with all his might. As the little airborne dragon sailed backwards towards his friend Hiccup threw himself down on top of his friends struggling form pinning him sollidly agains the grass.

"Ha!" screeched Hiccup, "I did it!" The defeated Squeak stopped struggling and began grumbling at Hiccup to let him up. "Lucky grab" he mumbled at is friends, all of whom were laughing. Squeak only managed to stay sour for a few more seconds however before he grudgingly joined in the laughter.

Next up was Shimmer against Bree and Bash, Hiccup watched as his Blender friend outmaneuvered the twins. Then he was up against Boulderdash, a fight that ended up with him on his back struggling underneath 800 kilograms of boulderbutt, lucky for him his friend still held most of that weight. Then Toothless went up against Shimmer, close but Toothless came out victorious.

This is how the days passed, roughhousing, playing, learning, growing. Life in the nest was good.

 **Alrighty! Hope you guys liked it! The reason this was so late was because a lot of this was written more recently than what I have in the next chapter, I keep feeling the need to go back and rewrite or add to ideas! Anywho please review even if you're reading this at a way later date (I will continue to check back on old chapters and such). One question. Should I use bold or italicized for when they are speaking in dragon tongue? For now it seems kind of obvious. Valka speaks mostly Norse (for now) understanding some dragonese and Hiccup speaks norse with her (unless otherwise specified XD) and dragonese with his friends. That about wraps up my spiel, thanks again to everyone! love you all**


	4. Taking Flight

**Alright, third times the charm. Things screwed up and I've had to rewrite this authors note twice. Anywho how's everyone? I've been super busy, back to school, college prep, life stuff. However, I've also been busy with this story. I have a bunch written and a lot of what I'm doing is editing, rewriting, adding, and changing bits. I want to thank you all for sticking with this story, and if your new then welcome! The likes, favorites, and reviews that I get make my day and I appreciate those of you who take the time to give feedback. Reviews are really the best ever! so please do leave your ideas, thoughts, or concerns after you read.**

 **Alrighty, enough rambling and on with the chapter!**

THREE YEARS LATER

 **(Hiccup is around 8 and the dragons around 5-6)**

Today was the day, Toothless, Shimmer, Squeak, Bree and Bash, Boulderdash, and Firefang were all going to test their wings for the first time, Hiccup of course was accompanying. As their group finally reached the top of the cliffs they all looked out across the nest, even after all these years it was still a sight to behold, the huge mountain cliffs overlooking the valleys and forest, the lush colors of springtime, the cool breeze that swept up and over the cliffside and the scents it brought with it. The smell of blooming flowers, water spray, and pine, and above all the constant swirl of color that was the nest, dragons of every shape and size, creating a myriad of colors as they flew from place to place. It was this last one that had all of the young ones excited today, flight! Pausing at the edge they all looked over into the stream far below.

"Not it" joked Bash. "It will be easy" said Shimmer, "yeah, piece of Leppa fruit" Bree said. "I'll go first!" announced Hiccup to nervous laughter from his friends. "Alright, here goes" with that Toothless took a step back and then leapt off the edge. Everyone ran to the edge and then gasped as a few meters down Toothless spread his wings and, flew! (Well more of hovered on the strong air currents), but that was all it took, first went Shimmer followed by Boulderdash and Firefang, then went Bree and Bash, and finally Squeak. Soon they were all soaring through the skies, Hiccup had fun at first, watching his friends get the hang of maneuvering through the air. He soon grew tired of it though and began to feel left out. Sadly he made his way down the cliff back home.

Valka looked up to find Hiccup being hoisted over the edge into their cave with a sad look on his face. "Whats the matter Hiccup? I thought you were with Toothless and your friends." "I was" said Hiccup "but they are all off flying."

Valka had worried about this, she knew it would happen but still attempted to console her son. Setting him down on her lap she gave him a kiss and said, "You can find other ways to play with them right? What if they flew through the trees, you could stay up in the trees." "They are your friends, I'm sure they miss you while they are flying just as much as you miss them." Hiccup smiled up at her, "Yeah, I guess so," he sighed, "Thanks mom." She smiled sadly as her son was let to the ground by a resting Timberjack, and watched as he ran off to go and re-join his friends.

Hiccup found his friends resting on the cliffs where they had first taken off from. "There you are!" exclaimed Toothless, "where did you go? I did a loop! It was awesome!" "Yeah, and we even flew" said Bree "upside down" finished Bash. "No you didn't!" exclaimed Fang. "Sure we did," said Bash "it's just that none of you were paying attention when we did it!" Hiccup sighed, but smiled as he interrupted. "I was wondering if you all wanted to play forest tag?" "Sure" they all said. "Race you!" cried Squeak, "your on" replied Boulderdash, he, Squeak, Fang, and Bree and Bash launched clumsily off the cliff heading rather haphazardly in the general direction of their forest.

Shimmer and Toothless however hesitated, "you ok?" Toothless asked, looking at his brother. Hiccup huffed, "I'm fine," he told them, "I'll see you down there." After exchanging a quick look with each other they nodded, "Ok," said Shimmer, and the two dragons launched off the cliff. Hiccup sighed and began to shimmy his way down the cliff face. After a few minutes he joined his friends at the edge of the woods, "ok, all ready" said Shimmer. With that Boulderdash began counting and Hiccup and the others all dispersed into the woods, unlike hide and seek, in tag Hiccup liked to be in the trees he found it easier for him to evade his slightly larger friends and over the past few months had become better and better at getting from tree to tree. Their new flight would be an interesting twist though, "oh well," he thought "i'll just have to figure out a new way to beat them!"

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TIMELAPSE *A FEW MONTHS* **(Hiccup almost nine)**

Hiccup knew his friends would rather be playing air tag but it was no fun for him to just sit and watch them. So here he was crouched on the branch of a sprawling oak tree. His head snapped up and his ears perked, over the past few months Hiccup had really worked hard at honing his climbing and stealth he had gotten to the point where when he was being chased he could actually escape, although Toothless and Shimmer usually caught him. He was faster than Boulderdash, less clumsy than Bree and Bash, and stronger than Squeak. His advanced dragon hearing, sight, and scent had also begun to develop more in the past year.

Hiccup prepared to jump to the next tree as he heard a twig snap to his left. Just then Squeak came barreling out of brush with Shimmer close behind, Hiccup quickly started to move, he leaped from his perch to the next tree and began weaving in and out of branches as he heard Shimmer change targets and begin pursuing him. He ducked weaved and leaped from tree to tree, Shimmer may have been faster out in the open but in the small spaces created by the thick trees and hanging vines Hiccups small and agile form had the advantage. He was pumping with adrenaline and could just start to feel himself pulling away when he crashed smack into an oncoming Gronkle. "Boulderdash!" Hiccup cried as they fell into a pile on the forest floor, a second later Hiccup felt a light tap on his shoulder followed by a triumphant "You're it!" "Hey!" cried Hiccup, "thats not fair! I ran into Boulder!" "Whatever" said Shimmer, I'm getting bored of tree tag anyway. "Yeah me too," said Bree emerging from the brush. "Mind if we go play air tag?" Bash asked looking at Hiccup. "Sure whatever," he replied sullenly.

A few minutes later Hiccup was sitting up on the cliffs edge watching as his friends zipped through the air. There MUST be a way for me to join them, thought hiccup. Thats when it hit him, How had he not thought of this before? He watched as a grey streaked Tree Shear **(Timberjack)** named Ashscale flew closer to the cliffs edge. When he was about three meters below him, Hiccup gathered his courage, timed his landing and then jumped. He landed on the great dragons wing with little more than an indent, his quick reflexes and honed balancing skills allowed him to stay perched on the dragons wing. Ashscale feeling Hiccup land looked over a bit startled, "why hello young one, finally found a way to join your friends in the air?" he asked. "I almost offered you a ride a few times, yet you seemed content with being on the ground." "I figured you would find your own way when you were ready." "Thanks!" Hiccup tittered back excitedly, "sorry for not asking first, would you mind flying close to my brother for me?" "Of course, and it is no trouble, I'm sure any in the nest would be glad to see you taking to the air."

As Hiccup and Ashscale neared the unsuspecting Nightstreak Hiccup took a running leap off his friends wing and soared through the air managing to tap a startled Toothless on the back before dropping down and landing on the back of a passing Glow Wisp **(Flightmare)**.

Toothless looked around wildly before noticing the grinning Hiccup a few meters below. "Why you..." he started, before diving down to tag back his previously grounded brother.

In this way Hiccup was able to join in his friends games of air tag, and he had to admit; tag was a lot more fun soaring through the air than it was swinging through the trees.

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Over the next few months Hiccup continued to play tag by jumping from passing dragon to passing dragon, and he became quite accomplished at not only tagging his friends but also at evading being tagged himself. He would use his passing nest mates as well as the cliff sides and the huge cliff trees. The only problem with his strategy was that when he jumped he fell quite a ways and rarely had the time to take one dragon all the way up. What he really needed was a way to stay in the air longer and in a controlled way, but so far he hadn't grown wings so he made do with simply becoming better and better at timing his jumps and angling his body in the air.

Sure he had his fair share of scrapes and bruises, as well as several broken bones. But by the time Hiccup reached nine years of age he was completely comfortable with their fast paced method of aerial gameplay.

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 **Aaannd done! This was one of my favorite chapters so far, I liked writing Hiccup's insecurities and determination. What did you guys think? I'm sorry that it was a shorter one, would you prefer longer chapters? How did you like the dragon names? should I leave the translations in ( _ ) form, or make a list in the beginning perhaps?**

 **Please do leave your thoughts, I respond to all questions and appreciate any and all comments. Seeing that a new person reviewed really does make my day! Oh and spoiler alert, Hiccup first person POV coming soon.**

 **Thats it for now, thanks again and I'll see you all next time!**

 **Alright, third times the charm. Things screwed up and I've had to rewrite this authors note twice. Anywho how's everyone? I've been super busy, back to school, college prep, life stuff. However, I've also been busy with this story. I have a bunch written and a lot of what I'm doing is editing, rewriting, adding, and changing bits. I want to thank you all for sticking with this story, and if your new then welcome! The likes, favorites, and reviews that I get make my day and I appreciate those of you who take the time to give feedback. Reviews are really the best ever! so please do leave your ideas, thoughts, or concerns after you read.**

 **Alrighty, enough rambling and on with the chapter!**


	5. Sneaking out!

**Alright! Look at this! An update! I just finished off this chapter and I'm pretty excited about it. The plan was to wait until I had more and then upload, it was also supposed to be more of a two chapter bit but whatever. Hope you guys enjoy, both the story and the speedy upload. Love seeing all the likes and favorites and I can't thank you enough. If you wouldn't mind reviewing after you read that would be awesome too. Its always great to get a review! I'm happy to respond to any and all of you and appreciate whatever feedback or questions you may have. Aight enough rambling for now I'll see you guys after the chapter!**

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As Hiccup grew, so did all his dragon friends, and while wrestling was still fairly one sided he did manage to win against squeak sometimes. The main difference in their gameplay came when his friends became large and strong enough that he could play tag by using them for transport. He would usually start off on the back of Toothless but soon make his way from friend to friend as he avoided capture and surprise attacked.

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As Toothless grew and his flight improved he and Hiccup would often go out on simple joyrides. Speeding, twisting, and looping through the various habitats within the nest. This morning however they were gonna do something different, and Hiccup was ecstatic. He ran out of his room with Toothless just ahead of him. "Morning mom going out for the day gonna catch lunch bye mom!" He shouted before jumping from the mouth of their cave and gliding away with his brother.

"So," questioned Toothless, "how far are we gonna go?" I grinned "no idea but leaving the nest is good enough for me!" And so as soon as we rounded the tree line and were out of sight we did something we have never done before. We headed straight for a hole in the ice wall with full intentions of leaving the nest! We looped through the caverns and twisted around stalactites and then we were out. Just like that. I whooped with joy and toothless let out a happy screech. We were actually out! I stood up and spread my arms, As we dipped towards the ocean I felt the sea spray on my face and updraft pressing up agains my arms.

As I settled back into a crouch Toothless picked up the speed and we shot off towards who knows what. It didn't take long before we came to our first island. We had heard all about the little lands dotting the outside from mom but it was entirely different to be seeing one for real. We swooped lower and I clicked excitedly expressing my feelings to my brother. He clicked back and I actually felt him shudder in anticipation.

We came lower and lower, circling a clearing in the trees, until finally touch down. I wasted no time in jumping down and breathing in the new air. I crouched side by side with my other half and we gazed out at the new world we had found all on our own. We looked at each other and then took off towards the woods. I took to the trees and could hear my brother as he padded along underneath me.

As we continued I sensed another dragon nearby and jumped down to the ground. Toothless and I cautiously but excitedly made our way forward towards where we both heard the snapping of branches. We came to a small section of the woods where the trees had been cut away and a mother Tree Slicer (Timberjack) was studiously pushing the last few leaves into the edges of her nest. Toothless and I both warbled a friendly hello as we got within easy scent range. The mother started a bit and I saw a group of three young hatchlings in the nest.

She backed up a bit and curled around her young growling in warning. Toothless and I both backed up and bowed our heads. "Please" said Toothless, "we're just exploring" "Yeah" I grinned, still to excited to keep an appropriately straight face, "we mean you and your hatchlings no harm." She humphed but relaxed a bit, "you two are barely more than hatchlings yourselves," "where did you come from?" "Hatchlings?" I asked, "I flew us all the way here" said Toothless indignantly. I swear she rolled her eyes at us, "where did you come from?" she repeated.

"Our nest is about ten minutes that way" I said, motioning in the direction we'd come. "This is our first time out!" said Toothless proudly. "Mmm Hmm" the mother dragon looked doubtfully down at us, "and are you allowed to be all the way out here?" At that my face fell a bit, "well.." "Not exactly" my brother mumbled. "pleeaase" I begged "we are being careful, and wont cause you any problems" I looked at the Slicer hopefully. Muttering to herself about watching hatchlings more closely she moved a bit until she was resting in a more comfortable position. "Alright" she said, and returned her attention to the curious hatchlings.

Hiccup shared a look with Toothless, "what are their names?" I asked. She lifted her head back up and indicated the largest hatchling, "this is Shear, and these are the twins, Dott and Speck." The hatchlings each crooned and gazed at the pair inquisitively, "and I'm Risor" she finished. "I'm Hiccup and this is my brother Toothless" I said. She inclined her head as Toothless continued "it was nice meeting you, we are going to keep exploring!" I nodded excitedly, eager to be back on our adventure. "Alright" said Risor "and do try and be careful, there are Vikings not too much further south." Vikings? I thought, making mental note to ask about it later, but for now I was to hyped to care. "Thank you and bye for now!" we yelled as I jumped on to my brothers back and flew off.

"It's so cool outside the nest!" trilled Toothless, "I know and the air and the trees and everything is so different!" I sat up straighter and spread my arms as we sailed over the treetops of the new island we had discovered. Toothless broke my moment "what are vikins?" he asked, "vikings, I think is what Risor said, and I have no clue."

We spent the rest of the day flying through the open air and exploring nearby islands. None of them as big as the first one but we did see a few other dragons as well as some Toothsnouts **(Boar)**. It was amazing and by the time we thought to head back to the nest it was already getting close to sundown.

A few days passed by in the nest and although nothing had really changed I felt different, I had left the nest! Toothless and I were practically glowing in anticipation of our next flight out. Days turned into a week and one morning we decided that we couldn't take it any more. Toothless shouted an excuse to mom and we leaped out of the cave and into the sky.

"Same direction?" asked Toothless half turning to glance back at me. "Sure sure" I answered too exited about the open flight to really care about the destination.

As we exited the confines of the nest I got an idea and began to urge us higher into the air. Toothless didn't hesitate for even a second and steadily climbed above the clouds. As we broke through the surface I shouted with glee and stood up and spread my arms wide. There was something different about being up here, the world below blanketed, a feeling of complete detachment and freedom. I inhaled the crisp morning air and closed my eyes in contentment.

An amused grumble was the only warning I got before my whole peaceful world was turned upside down, literally. My eyes flew open as I snatched for my brothers leg, I missed. He laughed out at me from just a wing flap away as I began plummeting towards the fluffy blanket below.

"Dammit" I grunted, how could he? I quickly gained my bearings and straightened out in the air. I grinned to myself as I flew through the clouds and whooped aloud as the sea emerged far below. I sensed rather than saw my traitor of a brother as he dove through the clouds behind me. I rolled my eyes and began to slowly turn in the air, I'd get him back.

As Toothless approached I merely grumbled into the air and straightened further into my dive. The water was fast approaching and as it got nearer and nearer I finally leveled out and, reaching out, grabbed hold of Toothless. The two curved up just skirting the cool ocean spray and shot along the rolling waves.

I then proceeded whack my brother in the ear, "you dropped me!" I accused. He grinned back at me, "but it was awesome." And as we again began gaining altitude I couldn't disagree.

This time when we breached the clouds I was ready, I gave Toothless a jab in the neck and then leaped of with him cursing after me. I laughed and closed my eyes, letting them open I found Toothless falling right next to me.

We continued to dive, climb and soar our way towards Risor's island, and by the time we got there the sun was already high in the sky. We landed in the clearing with wide eyes and running adrenaline, my hair was wind whipped and my body tired. I'd never felt better.

"Why hello again" came Risor's voice, "oh sorry" said Toothless as I dismounted to face the family of Tree Slicers. "No trouble," she said, "I wondered when you two would be back." She frowned "snuck out again." It wasn't a question and Toothless and I looked at each other grinning guiltily.

"well" she sighed "I suppose you two are at about the right age, but don't go giving my little ones any ideas." It was then that I noticed that Shear, Dott, and Speck weren't wrapped in their mothers wings. In fact, looking around I couldn't even see them in the clearing.

"Where are they?" Toothless asked sniffing the air. "They're of playing in the woods." Risor said gesturing towards the downwind edge of the clearing. "The worst things on this island are the Toothsnouts, they'll be fine" almost more to herself then to us. "Although they should be back soon," she muttered. "Actually" she said, "would you mind going to fetch them? They would love to see you again."

Toothless and I quickly agreed and headed off towards the forest. As we entered the cover of the trees I sniffed at the air "race you" I grinned and took off through the trees with the light sound of a sleek Night Wing hot on my tail. We didn't get far before the noise of grumbling and happy warbles started to filter through the trees.

Not twenty seconds later the hatchlings came into view, Shear was standing proudly in front of a fallen sapling that looked as if it had been severed at the base. Nearby Speck was shoving at his own partially cut seedling and his sister Dott was going for a running start at a third.

I glanced at my brother and we watched as Dott's right wing hit, stuttered, and then cut through her little sapling. As Dot regrouped and started to cheer I stepped closer "great job" I congratulated. "Hiccp!" exclaimed Dott "diddya see? I cut it!" I grinned, "Yep I saw." "I got mine too" said Shear, "mine's almost all cut" added leaving his mangled seedling and exclaiming a hello to Toothless.

"What are you doing here" asked Dott running a circle around them. "We came to say hello and your mom told us to come get you" answered Toothless. "Will you stay?" they all asked at the same time. "Sure" I replied "for the day at least."

We made our way back to the clearing and, after lunch, proceeded spend the rest of the day playing with Shear, Dott, and Speck.

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 **Aannnd Wrap. What you guys think? This family will be a part of the main story, though I'm not sure exactly what that is yet XD. Anyway please let me know what you're thinking and I'll get busy on the next chapter!**


	6. Growing

**_So, hehe, don't hate me? anyone who is still keeping track anyway. I've been gone for a while. I know. Don't really have any excuses other than writers block. I like the way this story is shaping and I want to continue, but there isn't much support. Yes I know it's totally my fault, regular posts = more views and reviews. That being said I am very grateful to those of you who do like the story and special thanks to those who reviewed!_**

 ** _And to say sorry here is an extra long chapter!_**

 ** _In answer to the anonymous question about other vikings, never fear it's not to far away. Should be in the next few chapters. Hiccup and Toothless are gonna go on a little sleep away trip :)_**

 ** _Now, so as not to keep you all waiting,_**

Hiccup moved from tree tops, to dragon back, to cliffside with as much ease as his friends were able to fly. With his increasing speed, strength, and agility, he could easily keep pace with the slower of his friends and was even able to sometimes catch up to Bree and Bash. However Hiccup was still bothered by the matter of his own flight.

It wasn't until a few years later that the answer finally came to him. It was a bright day and he had just made it back to the top of the cliffs and was taking a minute before jumping again. As he was looking out over the nest he spotted a Fourwing **(Stormcutter)** and watched as she jumped and spread her limbs letting the wind catch, Hiccup watched as the great dragon simply allowed the air to lift it along its desired path. Although he had seen this tactic many times before this time something clicked.

He gave a start at suddenly being quickly wing tapped by an excited Squeak, in his laps of concentration he had been tagged. Too excited by his new idea to finish the game he called for endgame and jumped to Toothless to get back to the cave.

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Valka smiled as she looked up from picking fruits to see Hiccup far above leap from the back of a Monstrous Nightmare tag a Gronkle, she assumed was Boulder, and then land on the back of a Zippleback and fly away whooping in victory. She remembered the first time she had seen him do that, it had been about two years ago and had nearly given her a heart attack.

She smiled at the image of her son flying through the air with such ease, all the dragons of the nest loved her son and she felt secure in the knowledge that, should he fall, someone would catch him. Valka slowly made her way back up to the cave to start making dinner and was just beginning to cut the fruit she had gathered when Hiccup landed gracefully on the cave floor with Toothless only a moment behind. With a quick "hi mom" he and Toothless quickly disappeared through his bedroom cavern and she assumed headed toward his workshop.

She smiled, he had first shown an interest in making things around a year ago and she had been quick to encourage his creative mind. He spent hours in there and sometimes came out with a new tool for her kitchen or a device that could lure and catch fish all in one. He was truly her little genius, she wondered what he was up to this time.

Over the next few days Toothless came and went but would never tell her what her son was working on. Hiccup came out for meals and to grab bits of material but that was about it, on the afternoon of the third day he finally emerged. He held in his hands what looked like a bulky leather jacket and matching pants, they were crude and she wasn't sure exactly what use they had, but knowing her son they definitely did something.

"What did you make this time?" Valka asked her practically glowing son.

"Watch and see," he and Toothless then launched into the air and she watched as they soared off towards the cliff.

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"You sure about this?" asked toothless as he watched Hiccup put on his new flight suit. Toothless still wasn't sure about how it worked but he was skeptical that his brother would get it right on the first try. After Hiccup was fully in the flight suit he made sure the wing flaps were hanging loosely took a few deep breaths, said "here goes" and then launched off the cliff.

Toothless watched as his brother spread his "wings" and... fluttered? It wasn't exactly a free fall but it certainly wasn't flying. Toothless sighed and then dove over the edge.

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Over the course of the next months Hiccup revised, refined, and refitted every aspect of his flight suit. By mark IV Hiccup was able to keep himself in the air long enough to realize that he needed some kind of back fin, and on the mark VI he finally added fins to the calves and back of the forearms. It was a month later with the mark VII that Hiccup finally perfected his design. He had created the ultimate flight suit.

It was made of mostly thin, light, black stained leather with nearly indistinguishable dragon scale plating, made from Toothless' extra scales. It was a two piece full body suit that went from his ankles to his waist and seamlessly up to his wrists and neck, light weight and surprisingly comfortable, it held concealed flaps where he kept his wings stored as well as a few hidden pockets and even a slot for his knife. The outfit was completed by a dragonesque retractible back fin, which while used properly with the arm and leg fins allowed Hiccup to quickly and accurately change or maintain his direction in the air. It was his greatest creation.

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Mere hours after I had put the finishing touches on the flight suit I decided to test it with a game of tag. It started out normal enough, I hopped on Toothless and we met friends over the cliffs to decide who would be it first.

"I say Shimmer" proclaimed Bash, "Yeah" agreed his sister "she hasn't been it in a long time!"

"What about Hiccup?" Shimmer defended, he hasn't even played in weeks because of this flight suit thing.

"Oh come on Shimmer," joked Toothless "It will probably never work anyway, Hiccup will be easy to catch," he said while grinning up at Hiccup.

Toothless laughed at Shimmer in his head (he knew full well that Hiccups invention would work, did work, he was the one who helped him test each and every one after all) boy were they in for a shock. So it was decided that shimmer would be it first and all the other dragons scattered.

Shimmer grinned to herself, she loved Hiccup but would not take it easy on him, she planned to outfly his fancy flight suit. Shimmer finished counting and looked around quickly spotting her desired prey. She made a hairpin turn and shot after the fleeing Night Fury, As she expected he shot off one way while she watched the smaller form of hiccup jump off in the other direction. She quickly dove in order to anticipate her friends fall, but to her surprise Hiccup wasn't falling. He was, flying! After a moment of shock Shimmer adjusted herself and shot towards her newly mobile friend.

Hiccup sensed rather than saw Shimmer as she made a wild dive down toward him, he grinned, "time to show them what I can do" he thought. Just as Shimmer would have caught up to him hiccup suddenly moved his right arm slightly up and veered sharply towards the cliff face. Despite his evasive maneuvers he could feel Shimmer close behind.

"That crack" he thought, yes it was his only move, Hiccup was flying straight at the cliff face and at the last second tilted his wings, raised his arms, and shot upward and disappeared into a small crack in the mountain. He listened to the frustrated sounds of Shimmer as she cursed him and his new aerial capabilities before changing targets and pursuing a shocked Bree and Bash . Hiccup grinned ear to ear, poked his head out and then began scaling the cliff face to reach an altitude from which to jump again.

With the new flight suit he had gone from one of the slowest to one of the fastest and as time passed he only got better. Soon he was keeping pace easily with his friends and could even sometimes manage to catch toothless. He never felt more alive than when he was soaring through the skies and weaving between the huge cliff trees. **(A/N: The cliff trees are like huge widespread Baobab/Banyan trees with minimal leaves, that grow near the top of he cliffs).** The widespread branches of the cliff trees were Hiccups most comfortable terrain. He could fly at a branch and swing himself around it to loose his pursuer, he could drop his wings and simply leap between the wide branches, he was even able to lose his friends by slipping nimbly back and forth between the thin layer of foliage at the tops of the trees. And it was all thanks to the flight suit.

This is where Hiccups mind was as he prepared for today's game of tag. He and all of his friends were standing atop the highest point of the cliff and had just finished arguing about who would be it. So, as an unhappy and grumbling toothless began to count, Hiccup and the others scattered.

Hiccup saw Shimmer fly off to the right, Boulder head left, Bree and Bash were going straight (though Hiccup suspected that was because they were arguing over a direction to pick), and Squeak and Fang were already out of sight. How does a bright red and blue flamescale disappear that quickly anyway? Thought Hiccup.

Looking around he decided to try and hide somewhere a bit closer. He leaped from the edge and glided down to the top of a nearby cliff tree. There he made sure that he was hidden in the sparse leaves as well as allowing enough wind to carry his scent away. He was still close enough to see toothless and so he watched as his brother looked up from counting, sniffed the air, and then launched himself of the cliff.

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Having won the tag game (been it the least) Hiccup returned home that night with a smug smile and a grumbling brother. "You wouldn't have caught me that last time if it weren't for Xena getting in the way." complained Toothless. "Hey, its not my fault the adults get in between our games" smirked Hiccup. Toothless just grumbled and and shoved Hiccup with his head. That was all the incentive that Hiccup needed to start a mock wrestling match that was quickly halted by the firm scolding of Valka.

"Tomorrow" Toothless said. "Yeah" Hiccup agreed "It's been a while."

The upcoming wrestling matches were the last thing on both their minds that night as they drifted off to sleep.

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Toothless, all the others and I were gathered around our traditional wrestling ring (really just a big section of grass surrounded by trees) and were preparing to begin.

"It's been a while" said Shimmer, "what with Hiccups new flight suit and everyone being able to play air tag." "Does everyone remember the rules?"

"Yeah yeah" said Fang. "Lets do this" agreed Boulder.

I had kinda tuned out the discussion and was adjusting the waist of my short pants, It had been a while since I hadn't spent most of the day in the flight suit and although I loved it, it was kinda nice. The suit was always so constricting, no wind on on my back or heat of day on my skin. Maybe I'll add periodic holes along the suit to allow for some airflow, or at least air contact. At least the pants aren't so bad, mom insists on them, they're lightweight and comfortable and so long as that was all he had to wear he was fine.

I was snapped out of my musings by a growl, seems I was in the first match up. I backed up slightly and prepared to fight. Squeak was the only one I knew I could physically overpower, I pulled back to the outside of the ring and bared my teeth growling at Squeak in return. Then Squeak darted forwards, he feigned for my head but then twisted towards my legs. But I was faster and before Squeak got a hold I launched myself up and over the little dragon to summersault and come up behind him. Squeak twisted just in time to meet my hand and the little dragon started to squirm, attempting to wriggle out of my grasp. But to no avail, I was stronger too and used my entire body to pin Squeak to the ground. It was a variation on the tactic that he used often when fighting his terror friend and it rarely failed.

The first mach being over he let his friend up, grinned and moved to the side in order to watch the next pair. Firefang and Boulderdash were a pretty good match, Firefang was bigger and quicker but Boulder was heavier. Hiccup watched as Boulder slowly wore Firefang down with his blunt body slams and was finally able to crash into him with enough force for the match to be called.

Next up was Shimmer against Bree and Bash. Hiccup grinned as he watched his friends square off. "Ha!" said Bash, "you have no chance, two heads are better than one!" "not when one of those heads is yours" his sister butted in. "Hey!"

"Hey yourselves" interrupted Shimmer, "you guys gonna bicker or fight me?" That got them back on track and they began inching their way forward. After a few seconds Shimmer lunged forward and to the right and as Bash let out a stream of green smoke. Hiccup watched as Shimmer entered the thin veil and disappeared. "Where'd she go?" shouted the panicked twins as they looked all around, as the smoke dissipated Hiccup caught a glimmer in the air directly behind the twins. He laughed as his camouflaged friend lunged onto the twins back and pushed them down into the earth.

"hey!" shouted Bree, "No fair!" Concluded Bash. "Oh but your allowed to breath your smoke?" retorted Shimmer.

"Its not my fault you guys haven't figured out your fire!"

"Oh you want to see fire?" Interrupted Boulderdash. With that he huffed and spit a flaming pebble at the twins.

That did it, everybody fell over onto the floor and laughed and laughed until they had tears pooling in their eyes.

"Alright alright" wheezed shimmer as the laughing subsided, "whose next?" Hiccup turned and looked at his brother, Toothless nodded, "we are" they said at the same time.

"How did this go last time?" asked toothless mockingly. Hiccup growled in response, "that was months ago."

"Yeah but I beat you pretty easily" he grinned back. Well not this time Hiccup thought, this time I'm gonna win! He grit his teeth and agilely rolled to the side as his brother lunged forward.

"Too slow" he taunted the black dragon. Toothless whipped around and grinned, "guess you have gotten faster."

"Or you've gotten slower" taunted Hiccup.

With another growl Toothless lunged towards him. Grinning Hiccup threw himself into a roll and ended up on his back directly underneath the leaping dragon. With every ounce of his enhanced strength Hiccup used his legs to send his brother flying over him. Using Toothless's momentum Hiccup reversed his roll landing smoothly on his feet as Toothless, now shoved off course, landed partially on his side.

Not wasting a second Hiccup leaped at his brother, using his legs to hold the dragons head he hooked his arms around the base of Toothless's fore legs, and held fast. Hiccup half grinned half grimaced as he felt Toothless begin to twist and struggle. His brother, feeling himself trapped began to flap his wings and writhe around attempting to dislodge his unwanted captor.

Hiccup held fast. After a full thirty seconds of tumbling around in the grass Hiccup was battered and panting but not letting go. Toothless finally stopped struggling and gave their give in noise as best he could with Hiccups feet pressing his head into his chest. Hiccup let go and clambered, dirty and cut, out from under his prone brother, never had he been happier.

"Beat you," he told his brother in victory. He was met by a grumble about luck and the sudden cheers of the others as their shock wore off.

"Yeah yeah," Toothless ground out, "next time you wont get so lucky." Then he playfully nudged Hiccup as they moved aside to watch the next match.

We'll see, thought Hiccup, we'll see.

 ** _So not my best, but most definitely the longest. Hope you enjoyed, and if you did, please leave a review. Actually, scratch that, leave one anyway, hate it, loved it? Let me know :) Anywho thanks all and I'll see you next upload!_**


	7. Adventures Past & Present

**So how's everyone doing? Holiday's are coming up! You guys have school break? Work vacation? Hope you all have somewhere to be, I myself am going to visit my dad so that should be fun. I Just finished my final math exam for the year so the holidays are looking extra bright! Anywho hope you all enjoy the chapter!**

 **Responses** **:**

 **dracologistmaster (as well as a few other anonymous reviewers) - Hiccups Introduction to Vikings will be in the next chapter! So stay tuned!**

 **midnightsky0612 - The bond between Toothless and Hiccup is one of my favorite parts of the story! It will to continue to grow stronger and though they may fight or disagree they are brothers.**

 **Nightfurylov3r - Never! Not going to abandon this story. I'm working on another story (spoilers) and that is causing this one to take somewhat of a backseat but I am still fully invested. I like how this is taking shape and am excited to get to more action. As for the tail I am sorry to say that it is unlikely. I would like for Hiccup's physical form to stay mostly human as he is a created hybrid and not born half dragon.**

 **Thanks to all for loving the story its for you guys that I stay on any semblance of a schedule XD and it really does make my day to see al the reviews! So without further rambling...**

The next day dawned early and Hiccup wasn't planning to waste a moment. Toothless seemed to be thinking along the same lines, "Go to see the hatchlings again?"

"You bet" answered Hiccup, "they're probably quite a bit bigger."

"yeah, It's been a few months."

With that they took off and headed for the passage that would sneak them out of the nest.

"I wonder what they'll think of the flight suit" Hiccup mused.

"probably just be jealous and try too copy you" sniggered Toothless.

It didn't take long for them to reach the now familiar little island. They headed straight for Risor's nest and came into land next to the mother and her three not so tiny hatchlings. "Hic! Toothless!" they were greeted by several happy cries.

"Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long!"

"Finally," said Risor with a smile "they haven't shut up about you two for months."

"Sorry sorry," said Hiccup "But it was important" he continued, "and really cool!" He emphasized his statement by spreading his flight suit and extending his arm fins.

"Woah! You can fly now?" questioned Dott.

"Yep, made it myself" he replied puffing up slightly.

Toothless huffed and Hiccup rolled his eyes, "with a bit of help" he added grinning.

Shear Speck and Dott crowded excitedly sniffing and rubbing against Hiccup and his suit. Hiccup and Toothless laughed as the three (not so young) hatchlings ushered them off into the woods.

Tree Slicers are quite big dragons and even these little ones were beginning to gain on Toothless in size, and I was far smaller than all of them. Nevertheless we had a great time until the sun again began to set.

As we took off with promises of returning soon I couldn't help but feel a sense of giddy pleasure at having been able to show of my "full dragon wings." The smile stayed on my face the whole way back to the nest.

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The years passed and Hiccup grew from a small, already capable kid, into a powerful lithe teenager. As Hiccup grew so did his strength, speed, and awareness. With his enhanced senses, physical abilities, and dragonic traits he finally was able to level the playing field between himself and his peers.

Hiccup sighed as he sat on one of the cliff trees sprawling branches, looking out over the nest he could see everything. The mountain cliffs to his side that ran down to the grassy hills and meadows, his home tucked away near where the two met, the small rivers that flowed down into the lake that housed their king, the dragonfruit trees and the evergreen forest, the magma field, and all the way to the protective ice wall beyond. His home.

It was getting late and Hiccup knew that his mother would be expecting him home soon for dinner. He stood up on his branch and closed his eyes feeling the wind as it blew through his hair and inhaled the smells it carried with it. With a last sigh he leaped from his perch and glided down to his home.

Normally he didn't eat at home, but today was special, and tomorrow even more so. Tomorrow, on his fifteenth birthday he was finally going to be able to leave the nest. He and Toothless had explored sure, but never very far or for very long. Tomorrow that would change.

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The next morning dawned on he nest to find the two brothers awake and itching to get going.

Valka stepped from her cave entrance to find Toothless laying on the floor by the entrance while her other son ran back and forth loading supplies into the small riding bag that was strapped to Toothless' rear left leg.

He also had a small waist belt that he would occasionally add something to. "You have everything?" She asked her son. "Yep," he called over his shoulder, "spare pair of pants, flight suit, a dragon fruit, my knife, and my new dagger" he listed.

"Dagger?" I inquired, "yes" he said "just in case, who knows what we'll find."

Yes. Thats precisely what worried me. "And you'll be careful?" I asked them, "And not go near strangers? Oh and remember don't go too far south, it's not safe that way!"

Her two boys just rolled their eyes, Hiccup nodded and said "yes mother" while Toothless made a short trilling sound of agreement. I sighed.

Then, just like that, they were ready. "Ok mom," said Hiccup "we're off" he smiled. I wrapped him and Toothless in a big hug, "I love you boys, and no longer than two moon cycles!" I added as they pulled away.

Then I watched as the two leaped from the entry way, flew to the opening, and disappeared. I smiled sadly, whatever was I going to do for two months?

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I flashed back to the first trip Toothless and I had ever taken. It was little more than a month after my friends had grown large enough to carry me and I was about 10 years old.

We were about to start a game of air tag and I was looking out across the forest and lake. My gaze met with the icy mist on the far side of the forest and I frowned. I had long wondered what was beyond the forest, never having asked because I felt it would be more interesting to discover. But I didn't have to discover it alone.

"Hey guys?" They stopped arguing over who was "it" and turned to me. "What do you think is past the forest?" I got a lot of blank stares but then Squeak spoke up "my grandad says it's a bunch of lava pools!"

"Yeah right" said Bree, "thats crazy" Bash added. "Right?" They both said. Toothless and I grinned at each other and then at our friends, "only one way to find out!"

The next morning Toothless and I told mom that we were headed out for the day and ran off to meet our friends at the top of the cliffs.

"Everyone here?" Shimmer looked around, "good, lets get there and back before sundown," she smiled and leaped off the cliff.

It took us about an hour to reach the edge of the forest and what we found was extraordinary, as the foliage and green cut off it gave way to rough rock and pock marked ground. Another few minutes and we saw the first of the pools.

But they weren't water! Squeak had been right, spread out in front of us where what must have been dozens of lava pools. Varying shapes and sizes but all the same steaming bubbling red magma.

We immediately swooped down landing next to the nearest pool. It was about five by three meters and had an organic oval shape and as we landed beside it I noticed an immediate temperature change. Standing there felt like baking in the sun on a hot day and the rock beneath my feet reminded me of the rock that some dragons would heat up to sleep on.

It took about five seconds for the initial wonder to wear off and then we all called out in joy.

Boulder was the first to brave the pool, he walked closer to the edge and tentatively dipped his left forepaw into the magma. A moment or so later he pulled it out, "Ouch, that's really hot." He then grinned and raised his foot (still covered in dripping lava) and flicked it at the rest of us. Met by a few shouts and indignant cries, the lava droplets landed all around us and one hit me in the chest. I immediately hissed and flicked the magma off of my skin. I'd never really been burned before, at least not on my skin, and it hurt. I looked down to see a red mark where the lava had hit my abdomen.

I turned on Boulder "that hurt!" He just grinned, "well then don't get hit!" He then proceeded to again dip his paw into the pool and hurl some out at us. But this time we were prepared and scattered before we could be hit again.

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

It had been a good day, and the first of many to come. I remember finding out that if I caught the magma in my hand I could safely hold on ling enough to fling it back at my assailant and though I acquired many small burns it was always worth it. Some of the others got a few burns here and there, if they were hit on the underbelly or in the ear, but mostly it was all just good fun.

As we had grown older and more resilient the lava too had become less and less painful to the point where I could now grab my own handfuls if I was quick enough. Boulder was still the only one who could fully submerge himself but the others could comfortably wade so long as they kept their underbellies clear.

I sighed, it had been nearly a month since we had ventured to the pools that would have to be top priority once we returned.

"Watcha thinking about?" Toothless questioned. I looked looked down at him realizing that we had exited the icy fortress and were heading over the forest towards the direction of the pools. "The magma pools actually" I told him, "and our discovery of them, that first day."

He nodded "I remember, and how you could barely even touch it for a second" he grinned up at me. I kicked his leg receiving a smack in return. I huffed and repositioned so that I was crouch/standing and then jumped off to glide beside my brother.

A little while later I was almost brushing the tops of the snow dusted trees and so landed back on Toothless to again gain altitude. Gliding again we reached the magma field and I curved towards the first pool now very close to the surface. But I made it to the first of the pools and more importantly the strong drafts of hot air that was hissing and bubbling out of the earth. Catching the current I sailed skyward again.

This was my favorite place to fly, to have such a large area that could support my weight was the closest thing to actual flight that I could achieve.

Soon though the magma fields gave way to open ocean and we continued southward. We passed the time when we would normally have had to turn around and kept flying. My blood was rushing and my spirits soaring, this was going to be the greatest adventure we had ever had.

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

It was dawn the next morning that an we finally collapsed back on land. "I told" pant "you" wheeze "we should've stopped at that island a few hours ago." I threw up my hands "well how was I supposed to know that we wouldn't another one for hours?!"

He huffed and we got back up to take a look around we had landed on some oddly flat shiny cliffs. I looked down the thirty or so feet to where they ended in a jumble of boulders and rock shards, odd. Beyond the clearing at the base there was a small forest with all kinds of trees, many of them were familiar but there were some which I had never seen before. Trees with sprawling branches and weirdly shaped leaves.

The island was much smaller than our home and even a great deal smaller than Risor's. Looking out over the forest and the small beach beyond I estimated that gliding I could probably cross the entire place in about five minutes.

It was also far warmer than back home and I wondered how the spring trees could be so vibrant and full this soon after winter. There was no snow at all and I jumped from the cliff gliding down to land in the branches of a familiar pine. Leaping the rest of the way to the ground I came up at the edge of the woods.

Toothless landed beside me and we shared a look. "Sleep first?" I questioned, "most definitely."

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

I awoke the next morning to a soft green light filtering through the entrance to our cave. This morning we had gone about twenty minutes into the woods before finding a shallow cave and crashing. Both exhausted we must have slept all the way to the evening. I slowly stood up and silently exited the cave. Pushing the layer of vines away I was greeted by the first rays of sunset. With the cave lit up I heard Toothless grumble and shift behind me.

"Ah get up you big baby, it's almost night time already. But my brother just grumbled, "fine, come and find me when your done lazing around."

I turned and started off into the woods above our cave. Gradually climbing to what I estimated to be the center of the island I stopped in front of a particularly large tree. Eager to get another vantage point I began to climb.

Reaching the top I broke through the leafy canopy and was greeted by the full and brilliant evening sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the brilliant colors of the dropping sun lit up the world as far as the eye could see.

I took a deep breath and gave a contented cry. This was amazing, our own island our own cave or own adventure! I smiled and cried out to all that might be listening; "happy! Free! Happy!"

I was about to head down again to kick my brother's tail out of the cave when something caught my eye. I turned to get a better look, it appeared to be a cloud. But something was off, it was way to far down, in fact it was kissing the water. I frowned, had it fallen?

Hmm, "maybe Toothless will know I mumbled."

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

I was now perched un the lower most limb of a tree overlooking the sand and the water. Toothless was almost directly below me and we were both gazing out at the strange white cloud.

Then I realized It was moving closer to the island, and almost at the same moment that what had looked like one cloud was actually several. I watched for another ten minutes, unblinking as the shapes gradually came closer and closer.

Not long after I noticed a few very distinct differences between what was coming towards us and the light fluffy wisps of air that I had thought they were. These were not clouds at all, they were large and white but not at all fluffy, and underneath them were other shapes, brown shapes.


	8. Vikings

**Wow, ok, been a while. How is everyone? (Those of you who haven't given up on this story anyway). I've had a kind of hectic couple of months, back to school, job searches, family drama, blah blah. Anywho, I am back with another chapter, bigger and badder than any other before. Trying a slightly new style for paragraphs plus this one is a hell of a lot longer than those that came before.**

 **IMPORTANT- I think that its fairly obvious but worth making absolutely clear; conversations between Hiccup and any other dragon are of course in the dragon tongue. Further, all of Hiccups musings and inner thoughts are in the dragons language much as you or I think in English or French or Spanish or whatever language you happen to be most comfortable in.**

 **In places where speech type may get confusing I have made the dragon speech BOLD and** _ **italicized**_

 **Now without any more rambling**

Toothless and I peered out from behind the cover of the jungles edge at what had just docked on the beach. What we had thought to be clouds were actually great white sails akin to what my mother had often described in her stories, and the brown bit underneath were the hulls of three large ships each alone bigger than the wreckage on the east side of the nest.

I watched with rapt interest as the people, vikings mother had called them, the first to disembark was a man, he walked down the wooden path that had been lowered from the ship. He stepped down cautiously looking around as though he expected to be attacked. I watched with interest as he ventured a short distance from his ship, once he made it about five meters he seemed to relax. He turned and called to his crew that it was "all clear."

As he said it more vikings began making their way off the ship, burly men and women all toting axes and swords and in some cases weird double tipped axes.

What were those things for? They were shaped kind of like a double axe but the metal was dull and longer than a normal axe. Instead of a blade each side came to a pointed tip. It was a weird impractical weapon, these people were strange. Then somebody caught my attention, stepping off onto the sand was a girl.

She looked to be about my age and for whatever reason instantly had my attention. There was something about her that made it impossible to look away. I stared fixedly as she moved forward towards the rest of the vikings, the way her long dark hair swept past her shoulder and her plated skirt fit around her hips. How her padded shirt hugged her form and her hips moved when she walked.

I was snapped out of my trance by Toothless who had nudged me and started to laugh. I felt suddenly embarrassed and shoved my brother. He took a step to steady himself and his foot came down right on a dead branch.

Crack, the sound of the snapping log rang out and instantly every eye on the beach was trained on the patch of greenery we were hidden in. Deadly still I looked out again at all the new people that were like me. They had weapons raised and suspicion in their eyes.

All conversation had stopped, the girl motioned for at her comrades and began moving towards our hiding spot weapons raised. Time to go I muttered, and Toothless and I turned and vanished into the brush. I watched them search for us from the high branches of a nearby pine, they were crunching around and stabbing at anything that moved.

I had thought that they might be friendly but it was quickly becoming apparent that this wasn't the case. From their conversation I gathered that they harbored deep feelings of resentment and hatred for my brethren.

"If I see so much as a dragons tail fin then I'll be the one to kill it!" I bristled and reflexively bared my teeth. How dare they speak of killing a dragon? I had had my share of fights but they had always been provoked, this man seemed almost joyous at the prospect of killing.

"This is my first voyage" came another higher pitched voice, "my mother entrusted me with secondary combative authority, if a dragon is found then the kill is mine." She glared at the man who had spoken and crossed her arms over her chest. The man laughed a deep hearty laugh "of course m'lady" he bowed somewhat mockingly and then ruffled her hair.

"Stop that! I'm not a little girl anymore Thurg!" She huffed and pulled away from the large man "and just plain Camicazi is fine." He laughed at her again "well Camicazi" he accentuated her name, "I do believe whatever it was has fled, shall we return to the others and get started?"

She narrowed her eyes at him but nodded, and I watched as they tromped back through the woods. These people were very strange, big and loud and aggressive, but I was inexplicably drawn to them.

They were like me and mother, she had told me of others like herself, like how I used to be. Even that she herself had once belonged to a tribe of people. She had never gone into detail and I had never cared much to ask, but now looking down on these strangers I wished I knew more.

I followed silently, easily keeping up with the staggered pace of the small group. I noticed that this Camicazi girl was much more adept at moving through the brush. Her small form leaped over obstacles and twirled around trees, I almost missed a step as I watched her weaving back towards the beach. She was still making noise and her pace was pathetic compared to normal, but her companions were far worse.

This must be why there was nobody here, these big strange viking people had scared off all of the dragons. There were feather cousins (mom called them birds), tree climbers **(squirrels)** , and I'd even seen a few tooth snouts but there were no dragons anywhere to be found.

As they reached the sand I stopped in a tall tree by the edge so that I could still make out conversation and keep them within sight.

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

I had been following the large group for nearly an hour now. There were exactly thirty-one vikings, including the girl. Each was carrying a large bag on their backs and many were also helping to drag big carts. I followed silently in the trees as they stumbled through along the jungle path. Where were they going?

We passed the cave and continued on towards where Toothless and I had first landed. Finally they reached the clearing in front of the crumbled foot of the small cliffs and came to a halt.

"Alright!" called out the burly viking from before (Thurg was it?) "Lets get camp set up and get to it!" He paused "remember, we are only here for three weeks!"

I watched them for the rest of the evening as they set about putting up strange shelters and erecting odd platforms and other wooden mechanisms. By the time darkness had set in they had created a small patchwork of structures and had fires burning in a central area with racks of food around the fire pits.

I watched the girl as she disappeared into one of the structures. I had a sudden urge to follow her, to say hello. I wanted to know these people, learn more about who and what they were. Where they lived, why they were here, did they really hate dragons as much as it seemed?

So many questions flit through my mind so many mysteries unsolved, it made me almost giddy for a moment. Then I remembered their weapons, their boastful talk of killing my brethren. My skin crawled and I shook my head.

Without a look back I took off through the trees to find my brother. But the questions remained, I would be back.

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

The days passed and Toothless and I stayed mostly clear of the intrusive Vikings. We could hear them from our cave and saw them chipping away into the mountain side with their weird axes. They were loud and annoying but despite my brother's numerous attempts to get us to leave I couldn't quite do it.

I wanted to know more about them, to know where they come from, to learn about these weird new people. So after half a dozen moons passing I decided to return to their camp.

I crept slowly and cautiously from the forests edge, crouched on all fours I slunk to the outer edge of the viking camp. Ears on alert and head on a swivel I approached the first of the crude structures. I edged around to the opening and peered inside the little den.

There was a man and a woman asleep, laid out under a cover of furs. How odd, were they cold? Mother got cold in the winter time but our firs were usually used to lay on not under, and it's not like they didn't have fire. Why sleep away from the fire? If they were cold enough for firs surely they would also have been sleeping next to the fires? Maybe they just found it more comfortable?

It was puzzling, though it made sense that they would be more like mother then me. Maybe THIS had been her people? I frowned, why was I so different?

Shrugging I realized that I didn't much care, I turned away and made my way silently further into camp. I passed more sleepy dens and more than one of those weird axes that I had seen them digging with. Past snoring openings and racks of clothes.

I soon found myself next to the fire and more intriguingly, a rack of meat. It smelled odd and I stood up a bit, cautious in making myself more visible, and sniffed at the brown tooth snout flesh. It looked weird too, there was no red and it looked dry. I poked it and found that it was hard and dry, why had they cooked it?

It's the same thing mom had done to hers that day Toothless and I had brought one back to the nest. Looking back I remembered more clearly the smell of the good meat being burned. I frowned "kooked" I think se had called it. I thought about the Norse word, there was no equivalent in the dragon tongue. Probably because it was a stupid thing to do.

Tentatively I ripped off a small piece of the burned meat and took a bite. I spit it out immediately and threw it into the fire. Why did they like that?

Moving on I made my way over to a large den in front of the middle fire. Peeking inside I saw that this one belonged to the girl I had seen. She was sleeping tangled and partially covered in her furs and as I watched she rolled over and exposed one of her long legs.

I should move, I mentally kicked myself to get going but I was transfixed. My eyes moved from her bare foot up all the way to where her thigh met her dress, my gaze moved on past the cover of fur to her face and a weird feeling entered my stomach.

It was a feeling that I had once felt when I looked at Shimmer in the sun, but this was much stronger. I was unconsciously leaning forward when suddenly I lost my grip on the entrance way.

My other hand hit the ground with a soft thud and I was immediately out the door and on all fours sprinting for the trees. I gained the comforting safety of the upper branches and made sure that I was completely hidden before looking back down to the small doorway from which I had fled.

The girl, Camicazi, had stepped just out of the opening and was looking around. Shit, she had almost seen me. Stupid! I told myself. I watched as she gazed suspiciously around for another minute before finally giving up and returning to her den.

That had been too close, time to head back. With a last glance over my shoulder I took off for the cave trying to decide how to best share my discoveries with my brother.

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

It was the next night and I was back at the edge of the viking camp. Resolved to be more careful tonight I eagerly awaited the shroud of darkness and the sounds of sleep.

I didn't have to wait long and just over an hour later I deemed it safe to drop down from my perch. Avoiding the one guard I slipped silently into the dimply lit campsite.

I found my way to a large tent that had the flap open and tentatively peeked inside. There were two vikings asleep and snoring on some firs but all else was silent. Slowly I crept into the small space, I carefully and silently moved around the strange space.

There were their weird horned helmets, a rack that held a few of the tools and a battle axe. There were body coverings like mom wore as well as bowls and plates. I quickly decided to grab a few things, I took one of the helmets as well as piece of dried meat to show Toothless and then hefted a digger axe onto my shoulder and quickly exited the shelter.

Over the next few weeks I returned multiple times, stealing, observing, and learning about these strange people that so resembled myself. It didn't take long for them to notice that stuff was going missing and they posted more guards, but I was careful and never got caught.

Then the end of their three weeks arrived and I followed their progress back through the jungle to their docking point. Their packs now considerably lighter and their wagons now loaded with stone I watched as they loaded everything back onto the ships. The girl was last to board and before disappearing she turned to gaze out over the beach. Her gaze swept right past my hiding place and I shuddered at the intensity in her eyes, but she didn't see me and abruptly turned, shouted something, and was gone.

That's when I made up my mind, I had to follow them.

 **XxXxXxXxXx-LINE-BREAK-xXxXxXxXxX**

Toothless and I landed in the cliff cave on the far side of the island. It had been a week since landing in the Vikings world. A week where I had been too shocked and intimidated to enter the village. For that's where the girls ships had led, to an entire village of Vikings.

Mother had told me that this was how these people lived but seeing it was all together and entirely different. They moved and slept and worked in and around large wooden structures. Hatchlings, no children, played in the spaces between and men and women rushed around. There were no trees and even the fully grown Vikings rarely strayed beyond the confines of their trampled earth and barren paths.

Sometimes they would come to the edge of the forest and cut wood, or to the edge of the cliffs and pick berries, but for the most part they were bizarrely self contained.

I saw the girl Camicazi a few times, laughing with some other vikings about our age, walking purposefully with an important looking large woman, and once even sneaking into a hut and coming out with an armful of clothes. I grinned as I recalled her hunched form dropping from the window.

She was stealthier than most of the others and over the course of the week I found myself watching her whenever she was around.

I shook my head and lay up down sleep, Toothless at my back and the open ocean in front of me I curled up for the night.

()()()()000NewLineBreak000()()()()

Weeks passed and I grew accustomed to my new daily schedule; wake up, dive for a fish, eat, watch the vikings, hunt with Toothless (usually fish), go for a flight, explore the island, watch the vikings, return to the sea cave.

These became my daily pattern and with the endless supply of entertainment supplied by this lands strange inhabitants I was rarely bored. The vikings had their own ways of doing everything.

Walking, eating, sleeping, playing, fighting, hunting. It was all so alien, yet still I dedicated my hours to studying and learning the whys and hows of this new world.

It had been about two moon cycles since Toothless and I had arrived and I was sitting in a branch unusually close to the viking village. The nearest house being no more than ten meters away I knew that I was cutting it close.

But it was late and I figured that the shadows would hide me enough. The vikings seemed to have eyes like mother with poor night vision.

Just then I noticed another figure, she was sneaking around the outside edge of one of the nearby huts. I immediately recognized one of the few vikings I knew by name, I watched as Camicazi climbed the wall of the building, alighting on the chimney gracefully she moved almost silently across the thatched roof.

Watching intently I failed to realize that I was leaning in towards the proceedings and -SNAP- the small branch (more of a twig really) broke off under my weight. In an instant I was gone, reemerging ten meters along the treeline to see if Camicazi had noticed.

She had indeed. She was frozen in place staring intently at the spot where I had been. She scrunched her eyes focusing on the surrounding area. Finally she relaxed again and muttered that it was probably just a bird.

From my new vantage point, and being much more cautious, I watched as she slipped from the roof down to a window ledge and then, with a final backwards glance, disappeared within.

Taking note of the buildings appearance I noticed that it was the very same one she always seemed to return to. If this was her home though then why was she sneaking in?

Perhaps others were asleep within? Like the large woman that was probably her mother?

Or maybe she wasn't supposed to be out late and so didn't want to be caught?

Either way I didn't much care and so, seeing no further gain from sitting around an already explored and sleeping village, I turned back in the direction of my temporary home. Maybe Toothless would want to go flying.

It was about a month after my close call with Camicazi and Toothless and I were gliding around the island above the dark clouds. I had been watching the vikings less and less over the past month, mostly trying to decide if I wanted to reveal myself to them.

These are where my thoughts were as we glided past a tall fluffy column, what would I even say to them? 'Hi! I'm Hiccup I want to learn more about you! Please don't kill me or my brother!'

I sighed, from what I'd heard about their view of dragons we would be bound, restrained, and possibly killed before I had time to explain anything.

As I was about to suggest that we head back for the night I suddenly heard another presence. Many presences actually. Looking towards the direction of the sound I glared through the thick clouds. Although I couldn't see anything through the thick air I could sense what was coming.

Dragons, a lot of them.

Toothless swerved to make for land but it was too late, they were upon us. They pored out from the cloud bank and with them came the noise.

Now in full effect and undiluted by either distance or clouds, I felt the sudden urge to fly down to the viking camp to pillage and loot as much food as possible. I had a deep desire, a need to get my hands on as much food as possible.

Toothless and I followed the twenty or so other dragons and dove down through the cloud cover. As a unit we descended upon the viking village, the same people that I had spent months observing, the ones I resented for their hate of my kind, the people whose minds I had hoped I could sway.

All those feelings were gone, all I wanted was to find and take as much food as possible. Swooping low Toothless landed atop one of the tall viking structures with a loud screech.

I dropped, swinging myself around the edge of the roof I kicked a startled viking in the chest and sent him flying from the platform and off the cliff into the sea. Startled the other viking turned and blew loudly into a tube looking thing.

The resulting sound was a long loud note that bellowed out across the still evening. Angrily I leaped onto his half turned back grasping his head in my strong hands I gave a sharp twist and felt a cack of bones.

The body fell limp and as I came down with it I was suddenly jarred. What on earth was I doing?

Horrified I looked wildly around for Toothless, all around were dragons wreaking havoc. Flying in and out of homes, burning wooden structures, making off with sheep and barrels of fish.

Then, there! Toothless was standing on the top of a nearby roof screeching at a group of terrified looking hatchlings who were cowering in the space between two of the viking constructs.

I leaped from the wooden tower wishing that I had my wings with me. I landed in a roll on the closest home and sprinted across the roves until I reached my deranged brother. Getting there just as he was about to pounce I laid a hand on his flank.

He whipped his head to glare at me and I knew something was still off. His pupils were dilated and his eyes had a glassy sheen over them. I knew he was still under whatever influence had been controlling me. "Hey!" I shouted at him, "its me, nap out of it! We have to get out of here!"

He seemed about to take a snap at me when all of a sudden his pupils grew back to a normal size and he suddenly looked bewildered. Crooning in apology he looked down at the terrified and confused viking hatchlings.

"What is going on?" He started as I swung up to his back. "What was that?"

I shook my head and voiced my own confusion. Looking around the vikings were rallying and starting to fight back.

"I don't know, but we had better get out of here."

So Toothless turned upward and shot up into the night sky. Getting to a height above the top of the watchtower I let out a small sigh of relief, it should be dark enough to conceal our escape.

Then I saw it, out of the darkness came a flying metal ball. It wasn't huge but it was covered in small spikes and hurtling towards our intended path.

Shouting a warning I lunged forward trying to put myself between my brother and the deadly projectile. I hugged myself to Toothless's neck and braced for impact.

Barely a second had passed between when I had seen the projectile and when it came slamming into me. I felt it tear into the flesh just below my right shoulder. It dug into my toughened skin and I gasped, arching as pain racked through my body.

Big mistake, a millisecond later Toothless let out a pained screech. There must have been another ball, one that I missed.

Through my haze of pain I felt us plummeting towards the earth. Toothless had his left wing sticking straight out in an obvious effort to keep from simply curling it to his body.

I couldn't quite see clearly but the second spiked ball seemed to be lodged at the base of my brothers wing. I held onto him tightly as we fell closer and closer to the hard unforgiving ground.

As we were about to hit I made one final effort, reaching out I pulled the back of my brothers wing out causing us to catch suddenly in the air. We shot out parallel to and inches from the tops of the trees.

We hit a branch with a jolt and spun forward into a clearing. The world spinning I made out a thick crack in the earth beneath us. Falling we hit the cliff face and I became dislodged from Toothless's back.

We fell screeching for another few seconds before I was enveloped in cool stinging darkness.

Was this death? Had I hit the ground and this is what it was like to slowly fade from this world?

No. It hurt to much to be death.

I gasped, my lungs filling with water as my eyes snapped back open.

How long had I been under? Seconds? Minutes?

It felt like it could've been days, but I was not yet dead and so I stuck my head to the light and kicked furiously for the surface.

Reaching air I retched, expelling water and gulping in much needed air. Looking around frantically I did not see my brother. Taking a deep breath I dove back beneath the dark water.

Even my eyes could barely make anything out down here but then I saw him. He was already ten meters down and only getting further away.

Goal laid out before him and ignoring the burning pain in his side he dove further down after his brother. It took him ten seconds to catch up and by then they were easily twenty meters down (how damn deep was this thing?) and Toothless was out cold.

Maneuvering around so that I was chest to chest with him I hooked my arms under my brother's forelegs and with every ounce of strength I had left kicked at a diagonal upwards towards the surface and the closest bank.

Nearly three and a half minutes later they broke the surface. Gasping and coughing up water I dragged myself and Toothless a meter up the rocky bank.

Then I collapsed, legs and arms failing under me and side on fire, I sunk into darkness.

()()()()0000000()()()()

It was an indiscernible amount of time later when I was roused by a lick to my side. It caused my wound to flare up in pain and I howled instinctively retreating away from the cause of my sudden hurt.

I blearily opened my eyes to see a concerned and pained Toothless looking down at me. He was slumped to the ground but had apparently been trying to help to both heal and wake me.

"you saved our lives" he stated. "I'm so sorry that I-" I cut him off "hey that thing hit your wing, nothing you could have done." I grimaced "besides, both alive aren't we?"

He just looked more miserable "no thanks to me."

"I grinned yeah well without you we wouldn't have had wings at all so I still count you as pretty important to the whole not dying thing." I tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace.

After comparing notes on what had happened it seemed like we had fallen under whatever trick was controlling all those other dragons to raid the vikings, then been hit out of the sky and crash landed in a ravine of some kind.

Rolling painfully over so that my feet were facing the water and I was looking towards the sky I saw that we were indeed at the bottom of a small tear in the earth. Of course small is relative, it was about twenty-five meters up, twenty meters wide and thirty-five meters long.

Judging by the scuff marks on the cliff and what I recalled from the night before we were on the bank furthest from the viking village and almost right underneath where we had first hit the wall.

About ten meters to our left the ravine ended in a pile of boulders and then rocky cliff.

To the right about fifteen/twenty meters away and on the other side of the ravine was a small waterfall. It was really more of a small stream of water that shot from the rocks and emptied into the small lake. The lake took up the entire middle portion of the ravine and ran all the way to to the cliff on the waterfall side.

The effect was like a giant curved claw whose ends had been squished almost together and whose resulting negative space had been filled with water.

It was rather beautiful actually and under different circumstances I probably would have rather loved it.

As it was It was hard to get around the whole crashing and almost drowning part of our arrival.

With a sigh and a grunt of pain I attempted to sit up, big mistake, I fell back to the ground groaning in pain. Chancing a glance to the source I noticed that a large chunk was missing from my side right below my right shoulder. The spiked ball had torn through my flesh and although it hadn't stuck inside me it had left a bloody gory mess where had once been flesh, muscle, and veins.

Laying my head back down I mumbled something about exhaustion and figuring it out later before falling again into unconsciousness.

I awoke again and it was nearly dark, Toothless was breathing heavy beside me and the sun had already disappeared behind the opening of our small chasm.

The pain in my side seemed to have dulled slightly, whether from actually healing or just from the numbing of the nerves I couldn't be sure but I was able to slowly scoot my way over to where my brother lay.

His left wing was stuck out away from him at an odd angle. He must have been hit in a last second attempt to spin out of the line of fire. If only I had seen it sooner.

I looked closer and found that the spiked ball was still lodged under his wing. Right where the underside base of his wing met his side the metal imperfect orb had burrowed past his thick scales.

Probably aided by our spinning motion it was deeper than mine had gone and most noticeably, still there.

Softly (being sure to go nowhere near the wound) I began to shake my brother. As he began to stir he also started to moan in pain, his wing twitched and he winced. "Toothless that viking ball from yesterday is still in your wing, I have to pull it out."

After a bit of a fuss he finally agreed, "fine but then we are leaving, getting off this island, no more vikings."

I nodded my head immediately "absolutely, this has been nothing but trouble and pain." I couldn't agree more.

()()()()0000000()()()()

Steeling myself I leaned in over my brother bracing my feet on the edge of the rock he was lying on. Digging my heels in I grasped the cool piece of metal in my good hand, (thank god the ball had disabled my right) I ignored the sharp pain in my palm.

Toothless shuddered at the touch and then winced and yelped at the increased movement. I slowly adjusted my grip on the jagged weapon and then with all my strength gave it a sudden yank. Out it came in my hand with a shluck sound that was lost amidst my brother´s roars of agony.

He curled his wing to his body and lay perfectly still, moaning in pain just cradling his wound. As it had come free I had fallen backwards and was now on my back once again looking at open sky.

The bloody viking ball was grasped tightly in my hand, my brother´s blood dripping down my fingers. What kind of monsters would make a weapon like this?

I glanced down at the bronze object that was the source of our pain, an object designed to wound, to cause as much pain and crippling damage as possible. It wasn't meant to kill, wasn't for hunting or simply intimidation. No, it was built to get something to fall to the ground still alive, damn any consequences or pain that it caused.

Dragons kill for food, to protect themselves, or to protect their own. But we didn't harm other things needlessly, it enraged me. Who were these vikings if they would do something like this to another creature.

For the first time my hatred of these people overshadowed my curiosity, had there been a viking in the chasm in that moment there was no doubt in my mind that I would have killed them. We had to get out of here and I told Toothless so.

An hour later I nudged Toothless to see if he could lift his wing enough to get us out. He shakily stood up and though it was his wings that we needed I envied him the full use of his legs.

He cautiously move his wing and immediately growled out letting it fall back to its curled position. "Well" he smiled grimly "won´t be flying anywhere for a while."

I frowned if he couldn't fly then how were we going to get out of here? I could probably climb the walls but definitely not with Toothless. Also, I winced as my side flared in pain, I wasn't even so sure I could climb it at all.

Gingerly I made my way off the rocks and across the grass until I was standing an arm length away from the nearest cliff wall. holding my arm close to my side I stepped op onto the rocky face. pulling myself up with my good arm I gasped out in pain, it was excruciating, muscles tried to pull where they no longer existed. It wasn't just the use of my arm that had been ripped away but also an entire section of muscle.

I grit my teeth and hissed at the rock but I kept climbing. Five minutes later after what felt like an eternity I had reached a pathetic height of only about five meters. Through the haze of pain I suddenly felt my side and lower shoulder spasm, I lost my grip and fell to the earth. I twisted landing on my good side but the impact still felt like I had been hit by a Gronkle at top speed.

My side exploded and I couldn't stop the roar of pain and anger that followed. We were trapped down here, stuck in a pit in the earth and dangerously close to what I now saw were our greatest enemies.

It was evening before I finally rejoined Toothless by the lake and responded to his worried inquiries about my wound. Turning to him I sunk my head low, "I got us into this mess, now I can´t even get us out." I thought of my lack of forethought and then of my lack of wings, if only I had the full body of a dragon I could simply fly us out of here. Why was I such a failure?

Before I could voice my self hatred and rage I felt a weight settle by my side. Toothless brushed my side gently "there is nothing to apologize for," looked into my eyes and I started back almost blankly. "WE got into this mess, together, and WE will find a way out, I know it."

I looked up at him gratefully but he wasn't finished, "we are brothers and if you think that I see any less of you because you look somewhat like them then you SHOULD be apologizing, but not for 'failing' and not for not having your own damn wings." I looked up at my brother and a smile tugged at my lips, I rose to my feet and embraced him, rubbing my head and neck to his in a gesture that was more powerful and full of love than any words could possibly have been.

I let my eyes close and simply took comfort in the fact that at least we were still together.

Suddenly my eyes snapped open and my gaze shot up across the lake to the lip of the ravine. There, crouched in the shadow of a lone tree and staring straight back at me, Camicazi.

 **Hehe, sorry for the sudden stop. Well no, not really. But thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Wonder what will happen with the vikings?**

 **I know its not perhaps the vikings you were hoping for but never fear, they will come. It also does not mean that this will end up being a HiccupXCamicazi fic. May be her, maybe a different her, maybe no one. Haven't actually made up my mind yet.**

 **Last but not least, please do leave a review (hey that rhymed). Let me know your thoughts, your hopes, your dreams. Any feedback is good feedback (even when it's criticism). Thanks for inspiring me to keep writing and I'll see you all next time!**


	9. Wounded and Trapped

**Well this took for-ever. Seriously I cant believe how long it has been since the last upload, hopefully everyone didn't abandon this story. Iv'e had crazy amounts of school work and studying for finals. Anywho, you probably don't much care about that so here is the chapter.**

 **-LINE BREAK-**

 _(Recap) Suddenly my eyes snapped open and my gaze shot up across the lake to the lip of the ravine. There, crouched in the shadow of a lone tree and staring straight back at me, was Camicazi._

I growled low in my chest and Toothless whipped around. Shaking her head Camicazi backed slowly away and then turned and fled.

 **-LINE BREAK-**

It had been almost a day and a half since we had seen Camicazi at the entrance to our forced temporary home. They had spent the hours after her abrupt departure trying to find any way to escape from the enclosed space they were currently trapped in. If she came back with more vikings they would be vulnerable and unable to escape. It would come to a fight, which injured as we were would not be swayed in our favor.

So, finding no means of escape, we had made our way to the base of the waterfall where the cascading water and a nearby tree provided the most effective cover in the area.

There we had lain for hours and hours, dreading the moment when we would hear or smell the approaching viking threat.

However now it had been almost a day and a half since Camicazi's appearance as well as nearly three days since we had eaten anything. So it was the hunger more than anything else which drove me to the waters edge.

I was fairly sure that I could go weeks without food if need be and Toothless even longer, but that didn't mean either of us wanted to. As I hunted slowly at the waters edge I suddenly spotted a small fish, only about the size of my hand but definitely worth the meat.

Lighting quick my left arm shot out and I came up gripping the fish in my claw-like nails. Repeating this process multiple times I finally had enough food for a small meal. I brought the dozen or so fish back to the safety of our little rocky alcove to where Toothless was waiting.

Carefully avoiding my bad side I sat down and gave all but three of the fish to my brother. Finishing quickly I groaned in satisfaction, I had been so hungry. However I still wanted more. Rumbling my exit to Toothless (who was still finishing the last of his fish) I walked back out to the lake.

I was stood over my prey, eyes focused and waiting for the exact right moment when all of a sudden the wind shifted and I smelled it. Stiffening and immediately wincing in pain I turned towards the scent and bristled. I looked up to ground level and zeroed in on the same little tree by the waterfall. It was now almost directly above us and I hissed backing towards the water so as to get a better viewpoint. I couldn't see her but I knew she was there. My keen sense of smell told me that she was up there on that ridge and logic got me the rest of the way in ascertaining an exact location.

What was she doing back? And why did she seem to be alone?

Toothless, presumably hearing and sensing my agitation, came out to join me and immediately caught on glaring up at the offending tree.

Slowly the small form of Camicazi came out from behind the tree, she came into view with hands raised and a slightly nervous but haughty expression on her face. She reminded me of when Shimmer was caught doing something, she had the same underlying guilt and worry but it was masked by an expression that said 'this was my plan all along' and 'you finding me was exactly what I had planned.'

I couldn't help but mentally grin slightly at the comparison. My amusement at her veiled chagrin however was quickly replaced by suspicion and my newfound hate of her and her people. Continuing to glare I simply waited for whatever she would do next, I didn't wait long. "WHO ARE YOU!?" She called down.

I simply tilted my head, 'who are we?' That was what she had come to ask?

I suppose it was better than coming back with a group of angry vikings. I considered a moment before nudging Toothless and heading back under the waterfall.

He hesitated a moment before following me away from our intruder. "What are you doing? If we leave her alone she could come down here!"

I turned to my brother "I know, that's sorta the point." I grinned "if she comes down then we can make her help us get out." He just shrugged "but wouldn't she just let us up into a trap?" I shook my head "If that was the plan then why did she come back alone?"

"Trust me, this could work."

It was ten minutes later that that we heard the sounds of Camicazi beginning to descend the cliff face and nearly twenty after that that the sound seemed to stop. But it had not stopped at the bottom.

Cautiously Toothless and I exited our small cover, looking up we saw that Camicazi was perched on a small outcropping of rock that was only about seven to ten meters up the wall. I judged the height (I could probably get there if I had to).

She glared down with an air of superiority and raised her chin at our guarded expressions. "I am not here to hurt you. Do you understand me?"

I understood her just fine, it was close to the same way that mother and I talked not to mention that I had been listening to their conversations for months now, but I wasn't going to tell her that. Instead I growled to Toothless to just let her talk.

She visibly gulped but continued "what-" she paused seeming to rethink her words "who are you?"

I actually did grin slightly at that though I still made no attempt to answer her. She seemed to grow more and more annoyed before finally lifting her hands in the air waving expressively "how did you survive when I shot you down?" I bristled at her words and my eyes narrowed, so it had been her that had caused us so much pain.

She paled at the change in my expression "so you do understand" she whispered. She nodded to herself as if satisfied with how things had gone and turned to make the climb back up the cliff.

Angrily I noted that the only reason she had come down was so that she could get more information. I sat back watching her climb ignoring the searing pain in my side and just hoping I could make her fall using sheer willpower.

Over a half hour and a fish or two later she finally reached the lip of the cliff, and after a moment bent over catching her breath (these vikings were so weak) she turned back around, called down that she would be back, and then vanished again from sight.

I turned to Toothless who huffed at me, I translated what she had said and he rolled his eyes "probably be back with more vikings and more sharp things."

I pushed him lightly in the shoulder, "I don't think so, she seemed to be more curious than anything." I shrugged, "she claims that she was the one who shot us down so if she wanted to hurt us then why not just use more of those spiked balls?"

I raised my hands in defense at his look "I'm not defending her, just saying that maybe she won't tell the rest of her people about us." I looked at him "it's better than how we thought she would be returning."

 **-LINE BREAK-**

Toothless and I were standing knee deep in the sparkling water trying to catch some kind of food.

After my surprising success two days ago there had been very little. Yesterday Toothless had felt well enough (and hungry enough) to come and help me, but we still had only had about five fish between us over two whole days.

As the morning turned into afternoon I wondered not for the first time where Camicazi was. True she hadn't specified when she would be back, but I still found myself twitching at swaying trees near the surface.

I was more than fine with her leaving us alone but she could at least come back to yell at us to leave or something. Not knowing when she would return was nerve wracking.

I saw fish darting through the deeper waters but I could barely move my arm without agonizing pain let alone go for a swim.

Toothless in much the same situation was keeping his wing gingerly out of the water and wincing anytime it touched anything.

Giving up on catching anything I turned and slowly walked back to the shore. Slowly sitting down I once again cursed those stupid metal balls and the infuriating girl who had shot them.

Just as I was laying out on the nice hot rock to rest I heard a soft whistle.

Opening his eyes and looking up I noticed the distinct form of Camicazi. Finally. But I scowled up at her and rose to a crouch while making sure that Toothless had also heard her arrival.

They watched as Camicazi shifted something over the edge of the cliff and used a long sort of vine (rope they had called it back on that first little island) to lower the object down onto that same little ledge just seven or so meters away.

As it came to rest on the ledge I realized that it was a large basket of sorts. Curiously I sniffed at the air and was surprised to find that it seemed to be filled with fish.

The different smells entered my nostrils and despite my caution I felt my stomach growl. Why had she brought fish?

Ten minutes later Camicazi had followed the basket down the rope and was stood on the small ledge next to to the fish.

She grinned down at us and I made an effort not to look interested. "Told you I'd be back!" She proclaimed it as if we had been waiting with baited breath every second hoping to see her return. Seemingly oblivious to our less than ecstatic demeanor she continued "sorry it took me so long, I had to take my time sneaking fish out of the store room."

'Store room?' I wondered. That must be the name for that little structure that the vikings kept food in.

Then it struck me, these fish in the basket were taken from her own people.

My gaze narrowed and I looked into her eyes for the first time. As we stared at each other I looked for any sign that this was some kind of trick but I saw only curiosity and stubborn determination.

"So" she said breaking our connection, "all you have to do if you want the fish is talk to me. I even cooked a few for you."

'Cooked'? Ugh sh meant burned, like mom liked her food. I wrinkled my nose in distaste.

She seemed to misread my expression and put her hands on her hips glaring down at me as if to say 'stop pretending, I know you understand me.'

I looked at my brother and (though he partially understood) gave him the details of what she had said. _**"Why would we trust her?"**_ I shook my head, _**"I don't see that we have much of a choice, I don't know about you but those fish smell really good."**_

He huffed a bit but finally conceded _**"Fine, but don't expect me to hang around while you two speak viking."**_ I grinned at him and nodded making a throaty noise that basically meant 'well fuck you too.'

Turning back to the girl I nodded my head towards her to start. She looked a bit startled at having my consent but recovered quickly and asked her first question, "Who are you."

 **-LINE BREAK-**

Hours later Camicazi was sitting, back against the rock, with a somewhat awed look on her face. I grinned as she gaped, looking down at me and seemingly searching for a response to the information that I was both dragon and viking.

Over the course of the afternoon she had berated me with almost nonstop questions. She covered everything from "why were you a part of the raid a few nights ago?" To "how long have you been here?" (She wasn't particularly delighted to hear that we had been following her people from the first small island for months).

All her inquiries led her to a new conclusion but none seemed to surprise her as much as my status as part dragon. I knew ever since she had first almost said it that the real question she wanted answered was "what are you?" So I immensely enjoyed the look of disbelief that was now on her face. It was as if she was trying to wrap her head around the fact that someone like me could even exist.

Days passed and Camicazi came to visit almost every one of them, she told me of her life and her peoples' deep seated and (as I came to realize) not entirely unfounded hate of my kind.

How a Monstrous Nightmare (I realized she meant a Flamescale, gods even their names for different dragons were bad) had killed her father and how she was now meant to follow her mother and become the chief of her village.

Camicazi talked about the bimonthly dragon raids and her peoples suffering because of it. She told me that the reason she hadn't turned us in was because when she saw that a viking could be companions with a dragon she felt it her duty to find out if a truce was possible.

With no small amount of effort I convinced her that Toothless (whom she was still wary of) and I had never before taken part in or even known about these raids.

I asked her about vikings and about the existence of other "villages." My grudge agains her for shooting us down and my hate of what her people did to dragons slowly gave way to my curiosity and desire to learn.

On the eighth day of her return she managed to get a grin out of Toothless and on the tenth neither of us hesitated before digging into the (thankfully all unburned) fish that she had brought.

Camicazi was back on the little ledge and I was continuing our conversation from the day before by explaining to her the real names of the different kinds of dragons.

It was slow going because she would have to explain what each dragon looked like in order for me to guess which of my brethren she was referring to.

I looked at Toothless and we laughed as Camicazi waved her arms around describing a dragon that "Only lived in complete isolation, killed everything that approached, and wore the bones of its enemies as armor."

Toothless and I had just pulled ourselves together from her description of a "Boneknapper" when she let the fish basket drop at our feet.

Holding up my right hand to indicate that I would tell her after the food I tipped the basket letting the fish fall out onto the grass.

Tentatively I began picking through the pile for some of the gray silvery ones that I most enjoyed. Toothless took a small salmon onto his moth as I pushed back a trout. As I pushed the next fish aside an acrid smell assaulted my nose. There in the middle of the small pile was a long brown-yellow eel.

I recoiled and hissed at the vile thing, backing nearly to the waters edge Toothless and I put as much distance as we could between us and the eel.

I rubbed my nose on the back of my hand trying to get the stench off. What did Camicazi think she was doing? I thought we had been making progress, not quite friends but at least to the point that neither Toothless nor I were very interested in killing her.

"What's the matter?" Camicazi's voice seemed slightly louder and, distracted as I was, I almost missed the reason for it.

I tore my gaze from the vile eel to look directly at Camicazi. She was now stood at the base of the cliff. A little patch of grass, right beneath her previously permanent residence of the rocky ledge. She was on the ground, on our ground. Toothless seemed to realize in the same instant and turned sharp teeth and throaty growl on her.

Camicazi stiffened, "I- I brought you food, and I haven't hurt you guys." She was wisely looking down, "haven't I earned some trust?"

I stared at her. She had actually come down, despite what we could do to her. I could kill her in less then ten seconds wounded and all, Toothless could half that time with a well aimed plasma blast. What was she thinking?

I laid a hand on my brothers right shoulder and tilted my head at this brave, stubborn, stupid viking girl. "Haven't harmed us?" I asked her quietly, "you mean other than shooting us out of the sky and nearly killing us?"

She looked a bit uncomfortable but waved her hand as if dismissing it, "that was a raid, I thought you were just like all the others attacking us." She shrugged "doesn't count."

I had been slowly getting closer and closer ignoring my brothers small sounds of caution and I was now back standing next to the pile of fish, eel and all. "Uh huh" I said. Then, faster then I thought I could move with my injury I cleared the two meters of space still between us and, using my good arm, gripped her by the throat.

Lifting her to her toes agains the wall I studied her face. She had given a sharp yelp when I had grabbed her but was now perfectly still, impressively calm for someone in her position. But I could see the fear in her eyes.

"Trust comes later," I looked her dead in the eyes and ever so slightly loosened my grip once again letting her feet fully touch the ground. "The only thing that you've earned is your life." I let her go and walked back to Toothless who looked concerned at my pained expression.

Even that small amount of movement had caused my side to flare up again.

Reaching my brother I turned back to Camicazi who was rubbing her throat and gulping air. I glared at her but decided to simply continue conversation as if she were still up on her ledge.

"Why did you bring the eel?"

She glanced up seemingly startled by my question, "um?" She glanced questioningly towards the pile of fish. "It was a rare catch and I thought you might enjoy it?"

She posed it as a question, seemingly afraid of what our response might be. I felt myself loosen a bit.

So she truly didn't understand how terrible it was and hadn't meant any harm by it, vikings were weird.

I sighed, "definitely not enjoyable." She looked puzzled.

"I don't know what they are like for you vikings but for us that thing smells worse than a month old fish caught under a talon."

Despite the situation she actually let out a laugh at that. "I am very sorry, I truly didn't know." She walked over to the pile, bent over to retrieve the offending aquatic creature, and then flung it out into the middle of the lake.

With the smell now safely gone I felt myself and Toothless relax. I moved back to the pile of fish and started eating again while Camicazi just backed up to the wall and watched.

A few minutes later we had polished off the fish and I stood up, "so why did you come down today?" I turned my head to look at where Camicazi seemed to be studying my wound.

She hesitated, "well I kind of thought that I might be able to help you and your brother with your wounds." She grimaced "I actually do feel bad, though perhaps its not quite so bad as it looks," she raised a hand rubbing her throat.

I grinned, "oh it hurts, just not enough to make us anywhere near an even match."

She huffed a bit "I wasn't ready for a fight, I could take you, easy." She glared at me but her voice lacked conviction.

I only shrugged, "how would you help?"

She turned then rummaging into a bag that I only now noticed was slung over her shoulder. After a few second she pulled out a small container of what looked like green plant material followed by what must have been the rest of the contents of the bag, a long white strip of cloth.

She held up the items "this is made from a healing plant by the healer of our village" she held up the bulky white cloth and continued "and this should work to bandage your wounds.

I frowned, it was very similar to how mom bandaged us up at home. We had done the best we could to clean the areas with water, but leaves in our little ravine were scarce and the leaves with healing properties were nonexistent.

"Open the container" I told her.

She set down the cloth and removed the lid allowing the scent to cary. Smelling nothing that was immediately incriminating I walked over and took it from her. Sniffing it I walked back to Toothless, _**"smells good to me,"**_ I held it up for him to sniff. He recoiled a bit but nodded _**"same gross stuff that mom uses"**_ he confirmed.

I turned and nodded to Camicazi, "thank you, this will help immensely." She just nodded.

After making sure that we used her materials appropriately she turned back to the cliff and made to start the climb. It was getting on towards sundown and I was feeling rather good about the idea of sleeping with this newfound lack of pain in my side.

Turning to look over her shoulder Camicazi gave a final farewell and made sure that it was ok to leave her vine, rope I corrected myself, hanging down to the ledge.

Uncaring one way or another, its not like I could climb it yet anyway, I told her that it was fine and gave her a grudging appreciation for the leaves and bindings.

In a record time of just twenty five minutes later I watched as Camicazi pulled herself over the top edge, waved goodbye, and disappeared.

Looking down at my newly bandaged wound I shared a look with my brother. This was going to be interesting.

 **-LINE BREAK-**

A full moon cycle had gone by since Camicazi had first made the drop all the way to the bottom of our little ravine and I sat now on her ledge, waiting. My wound had healed well, aided by the supply of herbs and bandages from Camicazi, and I was now strong enough to clamber up the short distance to the little raised ledge.

At this rate I would be fully healed by another moon cycle.

Toothless too had greatly healed, he was by no means in flying condition but he no longer had to cradle his left wing when he moved.

As I sat waiting for the girl and her basket of fish I found myself reminiscing about life at the nest.

Mother would be worried, though it was nowhere near the time that she expected us home I knew that she would be spending the days concerned.

I thought of our friends; Bree and Bash, Boulder, Squeak, Firefang, and Shimmer. What were they doing without us? Spending lazy days flying and playing tag?

I sighed as a cool breeze blew through my hair, I missed the open sky, the wind in my face and air currents beneath my wings. I missed doing arial tricks and shooting after my friends as we leaped from the cliffs.

I was brought back to the present by a scraping of rocks from above me, and looking up I saw that Camicazi was making her way down the rope. I watched her as she descended, finally touching down next to me on the small ledge.

"You made it up!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Told you you were looking better!" She nodded in approval and busied herself with dropping her basket carefully off of the edge where it rolled to a stop next to the rocky bank.

Toothless padded over and giving her a slight grin he began digging into the small supply of fish.

I have an indignant cry _**"Hey! Save some for me!"**_ Momentarily forgetting my injury I rolled from the ledge landing in a crouch on the ground below. The fall, while normally no problem hurt like hell and I gave out a soft gasp of pain.

However as my greedy brother had barely even glanced up at the noise I brushed it off and hastily made my way to the diminishing pile of fish. With only five remaining I pushed my brother away and bent down to take my share.

Scarcely had I finished one when I was pushed to the ground by a big scaly head. Leaping up and turning around I glared at my brother _**"nothing intentional"**_ I told him.

He grinned and gave off an echoing rumble of challenge. I leaped at him and, using my left arm, brought his right foreleg around and underneath him. With a surprised yelp he fell to the ground his right shoulder taking the brunt of the force as I made sure to stop the movement before he rolled onto his injured side.

I growled in triumph as he got back to his feet _**"Lucky shot."**_

I rolled my eyes and merely moved back into a ready stance. Before anything else could happen Camicazi broke our intense stare, "What in Odin's name do you think you are doing?!"

I turned confused to see her glaring at us "You two are still hurt! And instead of taking it easy and healing you decide to attack each other?!"

I looked a little sheepish "he was going to take all the fish" I mumbled. _**"Plus, we do this all the time"**_ muttered Toothless. Though I knew she couldn't understand what he had said she got the gist of it because she rolled her eyes and and shook her head disapprovingly "No more fighting until you are healed."

We muttered some kind of halfway assent but she obviously wasn't satisfied. "How about this? Any more fighting and no more fish."

I gaped at her "no more fish?" She smiled "none."

"Fine I ground out, "no more fighting." Toothless made an indignant sound and turned walking into the shallow water.

 **-LINE BREAK-**

The weeks progressed and aside from a few scrapes neither Toothless or I had any sort of new injuries to speak of. So Camicazi continued to return with fish and we continued to gain our strength.

It was the middle of the day and, deciding that it was about time to try my luck again, I made my way over to the rock wall that was keeping me from the world topside. I had yet to attempt to make it higher than Camicazi's ledge since that very first day, but it had been nearly two months now and my wound was almost entirely healed.

The beginnings of scar tissue had appeared running from below my shoulder to right below my shoulder blades and the entire area where the spiked ball had hit was still sore. I rubbed my hand along the area and felt a painful twinge as the almost healed wound took the pressure.

I rolled my arm around and stretched the newly formed muscle that was just aching to be used.

Setting my left hand upon the rocky wall I hoisted myself up onto its surface. Somewhat hesitantly I found a handhold with my right arm and slowly transferred my weight. There was pain, but it was bearable and I continued to work my way up.

It was fifteen minutes later that I clambered up over the ridge. I lay there panting and exhausted, but I had made it. From below came the victorious roar from Toothless and raising to all fours I answered it with one of my own.

Looking around for the first time in what felt like forever I noticed first how small of a clearing was actually made by our little slice in the earth. After the edge of the crevice there was only about three meters before the woods took over again.

It was a miracle that we had landed just perfectly in this little space. Not far to either side and we would have been home free. The trees would have hurt but at least we wouldn't have been trapped. Plus, it had hurt anyway.

Calling down to Toothless I let him know that I was going for a quick hunt and that I would be right back.

I was back before the sun had even started to set and feeling happier than I had in a long time. Toothsnout hung over my shoulder I approached the edge of our ravine.

As I approached I began to make out the high pitch of Camicazi's laugh and my brother's indignant grumbling.

I grinned, glad every day that I had decided to give the viking girl a chance.

Over the last month or so we had been slowly growing our trust and now at the very least I felt confident that she wouldn't attack either of us. We had stopped taking shifts for sleep, stopped being on high alert for her people to come pouring into our home.

It was actually comforting to have Camicazi coming around, not to mention that the food supplies had been a life saver.

I cried out to Toothless letting him know that I was back and his answering plea for help with _**"The dammed viking girl"**_ made me laugh.

At Toothless's distraction Camicazi looked up too and shouted her approval in seeing that I had made it out.

Knowing she would have trouble hearing me I simply grinned and waved down.

Hurt as I still was I realized that I would probably need both of my arms for the climbdown, which meant that I had to ditch my kill.

Toothless had once dropped a Toothsnout when we were flying back from a hunt, it had plummeted half the distance I was looking at now and still been mostly wasted as it splattered on the earth.

So if tossing it was out I would need another way to get it to the bottom.

Camicazi's rope!

Excited by my solution I walked past the top of the waterfall and over to where her rope was tied off to the tree. Hefting it up until I got to the end I tied it securely around my kill and lowered it all the way back down.

An annoyingly long time later I touched down on the ledge just below where the Toothsnout was now hanging. I untied it and tossed it the remaining distance to where Toothless was looking up at me expectantly.

" _ **Lazy butt"**_ I scolded him, _**"You could have made it up here."**_

He grumbled _**"yeah but mis viking over here said that I would just break her rope and then she wouldn't be able to get out."**_ He shrugged _**"I don't really see a problem there though seeing as you can hunt now."**_

I grinned at him before turning my attention to the frowning Camicazi.

"Well hello, did you bring fish?" I looked around hopefully but didn't see any basket.

"I just brought fish yesterday" she crossed her arms "plus, seems like you have the food thing under control."

She gestured to the Toothsnout "exactly how long have you been getting other food on top of what I bring?"

I raised my hands in a placating gesture, "today was the first time I swear, I finally felt better enough to make the climb."

She huffed "well judging by how freaking quickly you did it I'd say that you have been better enough for a while."

I was momentarily confused before realizing that to her my climb had probably seemed quick. Toothless laughed at her assumption and I kind of rolled my eyes at the now indignant viking.

Glaring at Toothless I translated his rumbling laughs.

"My brother would like you to know that the time that it just took me to descend the cliff was more pathetic than when you vikings try to catch fish."

She looked taken aback, "what's wrong with the way we catch fish?" She huffed and then further defended "I don't see you two having much luck!" She gestured at the small lake and gave Toothless a glare.

I put on a look of mock pain, "we were severely wounded by some stupid viking's death balls." I grinned at her, "lack of fishing prowess should have been expected.

I could tell that she was trying not to smile now, "well obviously you now have no problem with hunting." She gestured to the Toothsnout "if you can take down a wild boar all by yourself than I think you should be just fine."

I frowned slightly and cocked my head. "Wild... Boor?" I repeated.

She laughed and thus I learned yet another of the strange names that the vikings used.

 **-LINE BREAK-**

 **Alrighty good chapter? Bad chapter? Please leave your thoughts. Reviews are what make posting fun. Also I would very much like for people to share what direction you want the story to go, I have a general plan but I am completely open to ideas.**

 **Ok, thanks again and I'm going to get started on the next chapter!**

 **Oh, also, my other story (possibly stories) are in the works, I have no idea when they will be coming out but most probably soonish. So stay tuned!**


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